James Halliday's Wine Atlas of Australia by Rizzoli International Publications

viii � James Halliday’s Wine Atlas of Australia

Contents Foreword Introduction

iv 1

South Australia

Victoria

New South Wales

ADELAIDE SUPER ZONE

PORT PHILLIP ZONE Yarra Valley

HUNTER ZONE Lower Hunter Valley

BAROSSA ZONE Barossa Valley

Mornington Peninsula Geelong

Eden Valley MOUNT LOFTY RANGES ZONE Adelaide Hills Clare Valley Adelaide Plains FLEURIEU ZONE McLaren Vale Langhorne Creek Currency Creek Kangaroo Island Southern Fleurieu LIMSTONE COAST ZONE Coonawarra Padthaway Mount Benson Wrattonbully LOWER MURRAY ZONE Riverland Far North Zone Southern Flinder Ranges PENINSULAS ZONE Southern Eyre Peninsula

Macedon Ranges Sunbury CENTRAL VICTORIA ZONE Bendigo Goulburn Valley & Nagambie Lakes Heathcote Strathbogie Ranges Upper Goulburn NORTH EAST VICTORIA ZONE Ruytherglen King Valley Alpine Valleys Beechworth Glenrowan WESTERN VICTORIA ZOE Grampians Pyrenees Henty

Upper Hunter Valley CENTRAL RANGES ZONE Mudgee Orange Cowra SOUTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES ZONE Canberra District Gundagai Hilltops Tumbarumba BIG RIVERS ZONE Riverina Perricoota SOUTH COAST ZONE Shoalhaven Coast Southern Highlands NORTHERN RIVERS ZONE Hasting River

GIPPSLAND ZONE

NORTHERN SLOPES ZONE

NORTH WEST VICTORIA ZONE Murray Darling Swan Hill

WESTERN PLAINS ZONE

Introduction � ix

Western Australia

Tasmania

Legend

SOUTH WEST AUSTRALIA ZONE

NORTHERN TASMANIA

MAPS Winery with cellar door facilities Winery without cellar door facilities

SOUTHERN TASMANIA

Margaret River Great Southern Blackwood Valley Geographe Manjimup Pemberton GREATER PERTH ZONE Swan Valley Peel Perth Hills

Queensland

LOCATOR MAPS wine region within state wine subregion within region

Granite Belt South Burnett Brisbane & Scenic Rim Sunshine Coast & Hinterland Gold Coast & Hinterland, & Roma Darling Downs

TEXT winery with ellar door facilities winery with no cellar door facilities winery with restaurant note where a winery

INDEX PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

[above] Adelaide Hills in autumn,

14 � South Australia: Adelaide Super Zone

Adelaide Super Zone V

A32

Burra

Clare

Clare Valley

B82

Balaklava

Macaw Creek Wines

Riverton

Barossa Valley

A32

Kapunda

A20

Freeling

Nuriootpa Angaston

Adelaide Plains

Angle Vale Williamstown

Rumball Sparkling Wines

Uleybury Wines

ADELAIDE

Lobethal

St Vi n ce n t

Eden Valley

Hewitson

Will Taylor Wines Patritti Wines Penfolds Magill Estate A15

Sellicks Beach

Adelaide Hills

Hahndorf

Mount Barker

Old Noarlunga

Loft

Gu l f

Tanunda Lyndoch

Ranges

Gawler

Nairne

M ou nt

The Adelaide Super Zone exists on paper to encompass the Mount Lofty Ranges, Fleurieu and Barossa Zones. It enables the makers of blended wines from any of the regions (or zones) within its boundary to use a single geographic indication: Adelaide. In reality, this is not much used on wine labels; in more concrete terms it facilitates the grouping together of all South Australia’s important fine-wine regions other than those of the Limestone Coast. Nor, as the Mount Lofty Ranges Zone amply demonstrates, is there any requirement of climatic or geographic homogeneity. The Adelaide Plains is unambiguously hot and even more obviously laser-flat, with no stone buildings or charming towns, just light industrial factories on its perimeter. The Adelaide Hills vineyards are a bare 25 minutes’ drive from the Adelaide CBD, with hills and valleys criss-crossing in all directions, offering ever-changing vistas. The vivid display of yellow, gold and red deciduous trees in autumn points to a very cool climate with ample rainfall. It is true that the main geological structure of the Mount Lofty Ranges extends to the Clare Valley region, but the feel and atmosphere of the Adelaide Hills and the Clare Valley are as different as chalk and cheese. The premier varieties of the Adelaide Hills are Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (the latter two also used for fine sparkling wine); the Clare Valley’s trio is Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. But, as always, wineries of note can and do fall outside regional nets, and so it is here. All, except Penfolds Magill Estate and Patritti, buy grapes from other South Australian regions.

Murray Bridge

McLaren Vale Strathalbyn

Lake Alexandrina

u Port Elliot Goolwa urie Fle insula Victor n Pe Harbor

Cape Jervis

Penneshaw

SOUTHERN

Cape Willoughby

OCEAN 0

50 km

Adelaide Super Zone � 15

Wineries of the Adelaide Super Zone Hewitson Est. 1996

Journeys End Vineyards Est. 2001 248 Flinders St, Adelaide 5000 (postal) www.journeysendvineyards.com.au exports to UK, US, Hong Kong, China

Patritti Wines Est. 1926

Dean Hewitson was a Petaluma winemaker for ten years, and during that time managed to do three vintages in France and one in Oregon as well as undertaking his Masters at UC Davis, California. The Hewitson wines are immaculately made from a technical viewpoint, but the exceptional quality of the wines is founded on old, low-yielding vines. He has secured long-term contracts for 30-year-old Riesling from the Eden Valley, 70-year-old Shiraz from McLaren Vale, 160-year-old Mourvedre at Rowland Flat, and 100+-year-old Shiraz, Mourvedre and Grenache across the Barossa Valley.

A highly successful business in the ‘virtual winery’ category which, while focused on McLaren Vale Shiraz, also has contracts for other varieties in the Adelaide Hills, Coonawarra and Langhorne Creek. The impressive Shiraz comes in four levels, and uses five different clones to amplify the complexity which comes from having contract grapegrowers in different parts of McLaren Vale, drawing on contract winemaker Ben Riggs’ contacts in the region, not to mention his considerable winemaking skills.

A traditional, family-owned business oﬀering wines at modest prices, but with impressive vineyard holdings of 10 ha of shiraz in Blewitt Springs and 6 ha of grenache at Aldinga North. The rising production points to success in export markets, and also to the use of contractgrown as well as estate-grown grapes. Patritti makes wines of very high quality at enticing prices, and a range of lesser quality wines at unfathomably low prices. The JPB Single Vineyard Shiraz celebrates the arrival of Giovanni Patritti, who sold his wines under the ‘John Patritti Brighton’ label, in Australia in 1925.

1 Seppeltsﬁeld Rd, Dorrien, SA 5355 www.hewitson.com.au exports to UK, US

Signature wine: Old Garden Mourvedre

Heirloom Vineyards Est. 2006

PO Box 39, McLaren Vale 5171 www.heirloomvineyards.com exports to UK, US, Hong Kong, China This is (yet another) venture for Zar Brooks and his wife Elena. They met during the 2000 vintage, and one thing led to another, as they say. Dandelion Vineyards and Zonte’s Footstep came along ﬁrst, and continue, but other partners are involved in those ventures. The lofty aims here are to preserve the best of tradition, the old world of wine, the unique old vineyards of SA, and to champion the best clones of each variety, embracing the principles of organic and biodynamic farming. I don’t doubt for one moment the sincerity of the underlying sentiments, but there’s a fair degree of Brooksian marketing spin involved. Signature wine: Eden Valley Shiraz

Signature wine: Arrival Shiraz

Michael Hall Wines Est. 2008

10 George St, Tanunda 5352 (postal) www.michaelhallwines.com exports to UK

For reasons no longer relevant, Michael Hall was once a jewellery valuer for Sotheby’s in Switzerland. He came to Australia in 2001 to pursue winemaking, and undertook the wine science degree at CSU, graduating as dux in 2005. His vintage work in Australia and France is a veritable who’s who: in Australia with Cullen, Giaconda, Henschke, Shaw & Smith, Coldstream Hills and Veritas; in France with Domaine Leﬂaive, Meo-Camuzet, Vieux Telegraphe and Trevallon. He is now involved full-time with his eponymous brand, except for some teaching at the Nuriootpa TAFE; the wines are as impressive as his CV suggests they should be. Signature wine: Stonewell Valley Barossa Valley Shiraz

13–23 Clacton Rd, Dover Gardens 5048 www.patritti.com.au exports to US

Signature wine: JPB Single Vineyard Shiraz

Penfolds Magill Estate Est. 1844

78 Penfold Rd, Magill 5072 www.penfolds.com.au exports to UK, US, Hong Kong, China

The birthplace of Penfolds, established by Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold in 1844, and with his house still part of the immaculately maintained property. It includes 6 ha of precious Shiraz used to make Magill Estate; the original and subsequent winery buildings, most still in operation or in museum condition; the Penfolds corporate headquarters; and the much-acclaimed Magill Restaurant, with panoramic views back to the city, a great wine list and ﬁne dining. All this a 20-minute drive from Adelaide’s CBD. Signature wine: Magill Estate Shiraz

[previous] Nepeanthe Vineyards, Adelaide

Victoria V cttoria 92 � Vi

Yarra Valley � 93

Port Phillip Zone

Yarra Valley V As I have acknowledged elsewhere, I am hopelessly biased when it comes to the Yarra Valley, for it is where I live, where I work – making wine and writing about it – and it is where I hope I will die when my time comes. It is a place of extreme beauty, of constantly changing light, of colour and of mood. It offers landscapes on a heroic scale with the same profligacy as it offers intimate vistas. Once you have seen it, you cannot help but love it. Yet my love affair started before I set foot in it, when I tasted the first vintages of Seville Estate, Yeringberg and Mount Mary, followed soon thereafter by Yarra Yering. In the second half of the 1970s these wines opened up a new horizon; the Pinot Noirs, a new world. Within a year I had traversed its length, and although I did not know it then, my fate was sealed, my life was to change direction from that of a senior partner in a major law firm specialising in corporate law to that of full-time wine writer and winemaker without (as I am fond of saying) visible means of support. The antecedents of the Yarra Valley were (and are) impeccable, with a proud and rich

history of grapegrowing and winemaking stretching back to the first settlers (in 1838) and reaching the height of fame in 1881. Its renaissance burst like a spring flower between 1968 and 1971, inexplicably all but stopped throughout the rest of the 1970s and flourished in an extraordinary fashion in the 1980s and, even more, in the 1990s through to 2005. Until the 1990s the Yarra Valley was the exclusive preserve of the small winery, most of them producing wines in the super-premium category. De Bortoli Wines of Griffith was the first large, commercial company to invest, acquiring (and renaming) Millers Chateau Yarrinya in 1987. Then in the 1990s, and in quick succession, Mildara Blass acquired Yarra Ridge (and later St Huberts, now part of Treasury Wine Estates, along with Coldstream Hills, which was taken over by Southcorp in 1996); Hardys acquired the large Hoddles Creek Vineyards and then Yarra Burn; McWilliam’s purchased (and has since sold) Lilydale Vineyards. There was also a rash of large-scale investment in new wineries initiated by Moët & Chandon with Domaine Chandon in the late

1980s, followed by the Cowan family in Eytonon-Yarra (since acquired by the Konecsny family and renamed Rochford), the Rathbone family with Yering Station, and (in 1997) the Zitzlaff family with Oakridge Estate, now owned by Tony D’Aloisio. Back in the 1980s Dr Tony Jordan of Domaine Chandon wrote a paper suggesting that by 2010 the Yarra Valley could have 5000 hectares of vineyards and 100 wineries producing three million cases of wine a year. At the time, it seemed a fanciful dream; however, with the national and international acceptance of the Yarra Valley as one of Australia’s foremost finewine regions, it has been partly fulfilled. By 2012 the number of wineries was over 140, the grape harvest sufficient to make over 1,200,000 cases.

[opposite] Domaine Chandon, Yarra Valley. [below] Amphitheatre Vineyard, Coldstream Hills, Yarra Valley. [overleaf] Kangaroos, Coldstream Hills, Yarra Valley.

94 � Victoria: Port Phillip Zone

KINGLAKE NATIONAL PARK

Kinglake West

Pheasant Creek

Humevale

C725

C724

Whittlesea Kinglake Central

C727

KINGLAKE Yan Yean Reservoir

Kinglake

Strathewen

NATIONAL

Mernda

Cottles Bridge

Wattle Glen Diamond Creek

Eltham

R YA

B380

Croydon

Mount Evelyn

Mooroolbark

C404

Wandin North

5 km

Kalorama

Boronia

The Basin

Silvan

C405

YARRA

RANGES

NAT I O NA L

PA R K

C505

C506

Gracedale Hills Estate

C507

Don Valley

WARBURTON

Woori Yallock

Hillcrest Vineyard

HWY

River

Launching Place

Millgrove

B380

Wesburn

Warburton

Yarra Burn Yarra Junction

Bulong Estate Hoddles Creek Estate C425

Yellingbo

Yellingbo Nature Reserve

Silvan RANGES Reservoir

Gladysdale

Hoddles Creek

C411

Olinda

Sassafras

Nature Reserve

Lillydale Estate

DANDENONG

Bayswater

N OO

Tarrawarra Healesville Estate Dominique Portet Rochford Wines Riverstone Wines Tokar Estate Yarra Yering Giant Steps Warramate

Seville Ainsworth Estate Seville Estate

Ringwood Heathmont

Maroondah Reservoir

Boat O’Craigo

Lilydale HWY

B360

ra Yar

Yarra Track Wines Long Gully Estate

Metier Yarra Glen Wines Sticks Train Sugarloaf Yarra Ridge Trak Reservoir Yering Station Domaine Chandon Yering Yeringberg Yering Farm The Oaks Oakridge Vineyard & Winery B360 Yarrawalla Mount Mary Wines Punt Coldstream Road Coldstream Hills Lirralirra Gruyere Estate B300

H DA

C724

Toolangi Vineyards

Kellybrook Wonga Estate

Warrandyte

Dixons Creek

Fergusson

Samson Hill Estate

Balgownie Estate

Christmas Hills

Rob Roy

Watsons Creek

Research Montmorency

De Bortoli

ty en Pl

Greensborough

Sutherland Estate Shantell

Panton Hill

C746

Evelyn County Estate

Steels Creek Estate

Gully

Hurstbridge

Plenty

PARK

Diamond Valley Vineyards

Steels Wedgetail Creek St Andrews Estate Yarra Yarra Naked Range Roundstone Smiths Wines Winery & Vineyard

Nutfield

Yarrambat

HWY

Arthurs Creek

River

Yan Yean

C727

Toolangi B300

C746

Three Bridges Ferntree NATIONAL Sherbrooke Gully Upper Ferntree Gully

Rowville Lysterfield

Macclesfield

PARK Tecoma

C424

Nangana

Belgrave

Belgrave South

Kurth Kiln Park

Menzies Creek

Selby

Clematis

C404

Lysterfield Park

Monbulk

The Kallista Patch

C412

Avonsleigh

Emerald

C413

Gembrook Hill

Cockatoo C411

Gembrook

Cardinia Reservoir

Yarra Valley � 95

Cambarville

C511

YARRA RANGES NATI ONAL PAR K

McMahons Creek C511

Warburton ast Big Pats Creek

Upper Yarra Reservoir

YARRA

RANGES

NATIONAL Ya r

PARK

ra Ri ve

elltown

Melbourne

YARRA VALLEY Gazetted 30 October 1996 Latitude 37˚42’S Elevation 50–350 m Biologically Effective Degree Days 1227 Sunshine Hours 1490 Growing season rainfall 400–595 mm Harvest 1 March to 25 April Chief viticultural hazards Birds; mildew © 2014 Hardie Grant Books. All Rights Reserved

Victoria V i ccttor toria o r iiaa or 96 96 � Vi

Yarra Valley � 97

The Region

CLIMATE Given the considerable variation in altitude throughout the Yarra Valley, and the significance of aspect (i.e. north or south) on the many hillside vineyards, it is not surprising that there is substantial variation in meso-climate. However, even the warmest sites are, comparatively speaking, cool; the Mean January Temperature (MJT) at Healesville is 19.4˚C, which is lower than at Bordeaux or Burgundy.

WHITE WINE STYLES Chardonnay. Curious though it may seem, the quality of Yarra Valley Chardonnay took longer to assert itself than did that of its Pinot Noir. However, since the 1990s both the quality and range of style have increased dramatically; while there is a distinctive regional white peach and grapefruit flavour substrate to all Yarra Valley Chardonnays, there is diversity in weight, texture and richness, partly reflecting vintage variation, partly the different winemaking philosophies and techniques, and partly the distinctive Upper Yarra finesse. What is undoubted is the capacity of the Yarra Valley to produce Chardonnay of the highest quality, its length on the palate unsurpassed. Sauvignon Blanc enjoys demand in excess of Valley-grown supply. The wines show a range of herb, gooseberry and tropical flavours, sharing good natural acidity with Chardonnay.

RED WINE STYLES

SOIL & TOPOGRAPHY There are two radically different soil types: greybrown sandy clay loam with a mixed rock and clay subsoil, deriving from ancient sandstone of the Great Dividing Range, and a much younger, vivid red soil of volcanic origin, very deep and well drained. The grey soils are on the Maroondah and Melba highways (i.e. northern) sides of the Valley, the red soils on the Warburton (southern) Hwy.

PRINCIPAL GRAPE VARIETIES 2012 Overall, 62 per cent red, 38 per cent white. pinot noir chardonnay cabernet sauvignon shiraz sauvignon blanc merlot Total all varieties: 2353 ha

Pinot Noir takes pride of place simply because the Yarra Valley has achieved more (in terms of both quality and volume) with this difficult variety than any other mainland Australian wine region; its plantings are twice those of the Mornington Peninsula. Moreover, the essential nature of Pinot Noir is becoming better understood; in particular its haunting delicacy and surprising length of flavour. For those who understand true Burgundy the sappy/foresty/cherry/plum spectrum of fruit flavours to be found in the Yarra is exciting, particularly with 10 years’ bottle age. Cabernet Sauvignon is sometimes blended with up to 15 per cent of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The wines are invariably elegant, but are usually medium-bodied. The common feature is the softness of the tannins – they are almost silky. This can trap the unwary into assuming the wines will not cellar well, but they do, as anyone who has tasted a 100-year-old Yeringberg will attest. Shiraz. The quality of Yarra Valley Shiraz has ceased to need promotional support. Redolent of black cherry, spice and pepper, but with those fine, silky Yarra Valley tannins, it is near the epicentre of the discovery across Australia of the appeal of cool-climate style. Since the late 1990s, Viognier has made its appearance as a minor blend component with Shiraz to produce wines of startling aroma and flavour, akin to the best of Côte-Rôtie. The selective inclusion of whole bunches in the ferment adds to the link with Côte-Rôtie.

270 � Western Australia: Swan District

SWAN VALLEY Gazetted 6 January 2003 Latitude 31˚53’S Elevation 10–40 m Biologically Effective Degree Days 1826 Sunshine Hours 1962

Growing season rainfall 168 mm

Ellen

The Vines

Harvest 3 February to 14 March

Upper Swan

Chief viticultural hazard Excessive heat

ver Ri

ROAD

HWY

HADDRIL

Lamont’s Susannah Millendon Brook Wines

Talijancich

GREAT

Henley Brook

Swan Valley Wines

Henley Brook

Baskerville

NORTHERN

Perth

John Kosovich Wines

Faber Vineyard

S CAMPER

LedaSwan

River

k Broo

Ellenbrook

Swan

Belhus

Upper Reach Vineyard

The Natural Wine Company

ROAD

COPLEY

Sw an

Herne Hill

Whiteman

BARRETT

ROAD

Sittella Wines ST

Valley Wines 1 95

West Swan

Oakover Estate

YUKICH DALE

CLOSE RD

JOHN FORREST D OA

HWY

Garbin Estate Wines 3

Middle Swan

HWY

NTH N GRE AT

RIVER

D OO

Midland

Caversham

Midvale

GREAT

Bellevue

Guildford

Koongamia

ROE

EASTERN Hazelmere

EAT

Bassendean

Ashfield

EASTERN

HIGHW

BYPAS

2 km

Y HW

SWA N

51 1

HWY

Viveash

RiverBank Estate 52

Jane Brook Estate

ROE

BENARA RO

Lilac Hill Estate

NATIONAL PARK

Sandalford

Beechboro

Jane Brook

Houghton; Moondah Brook REID

Vino Italia

94 1

Greenmount

Swan Valley �271

The Region

CLIMATE Whichever yardstick is used, the Swan Valley proper has an unequivocally hot climate. It has the highest mean January temperature of any significant Australian district. It has the lowest summer rainfall of any Australian region, the lowest relative humidity (47 per cent) and the most hours of sunshine per day. Its heat summation (HDD) almost comes as an anticlimax at 2340. The Gin Gin/Moondah Brook area, well to the north of the Swan Valley, is somewhat cooler, and although still at the warm end of the climatic spectrum, has consistently demonstrated a surprising capacity to produce full-flavoured, full-bodied white wines.

SOIL & TOPOGRAPHY The Swan Valley proper is a flat alluvial plain flanked by the Darling Range and permeated by the tributaries of the Swan River. The best soils are brown or yellow-brown loamy sand surface soils passing gradually through lighter-coloured (and slightly more clayey) subsurface soils, thence into porous sandy clay loam subsoils. This structure allows deep penetration by vine roots to tap the reserves of the heavy winter rainfall.

PRINCIPAL GRAPE VARIETIES 2012 Overall, 54 per cent white, 46 per cent red. Shiraz Verdelho Chenin Blanc Chardonnay Cabernet Sauvignon Grenache Total all varieties: 677 ha

WHITE WINE STYLES Chenin Blanc is a long-term resident; arguably the Swan Valley is the one region in Australia in which this grape (and the wine it makes) rises above mediocrity, producing a wine with a certain luscious richness and capacity to age for up to a decade. Verdelho is a traditional variety which was appreciated well before the eastern States’ vogue for it in the 1980s. Almost all of the best wineries produce a varietal wine from this grape, and are usually content to allow the honeyed/honeysuckle/ fruit salad flavour free rein without introducing new oak. Chardonnay is important, and may be blended with material from the south to good effect for lower-priced wines. Blended White Wines. The three principal white varieties (plus some Muscadelle) coalesce to produce what not so long ago was one of Australia’s largest selling dry white wines, Houghton White Burgundy, with its distinctive blue stripe. Now called White Classic, it has the largest sales volume of any Houghton product, and is the leader of the West Australian Classic White blends.

RED WINE STYLES Shiraz is the most important red wine grape in what is essentially white wine country. It produces a warm, fleshy wine in the hands of most makers, once again attesting to its versatility. Cabernet Sauvignon is a surprise performer. Fortified Wines, once an immensely important part of the Swan District’s production, are now actively promoted by only a few. Sandalford Sandalera, the tiny output from John Kosovich Wines and Talijancich are also jewels. Grenache is used both for fortified and table wines.

Mount Trio Vineyard, Porongurup.