Description
Ashton Hills has the oldest pinot vineyard in the Adelaide Hills. Stephen George wears two winemakers’ hats … one for his Ashton Hills wines coming from his estate vineyard high in the Adelaide Hills, the other for the iconic Wendouree wines in Clare. He refers to his dry grown Piccadilly Valley vineyard planted back in 1982 as the “Burgundy of the Adelaide Hills”. Stephen is one of Australia’s most highly respected winemaking viticulturalists and a pioneer of Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir. In 1982 he planted his dry-grown 3 hectare vineyard (which he refers to as his garden!) and has experimented much with trellising and planting 21 different pinot clones and settled on the best performing 5 clones. To give you an idea of the attention to detail of this craftsman, sometimes they go through 4 times hand picking the same row to ensure optimum ripeness! The result is sublime pinot noir.. unfortunately in minuscule quantities!
The Estate is handpicked, gently destemmed to preserve as many whole bunches as possible, followed by basket press, minimal sulphur additions and maturation in French oak.
You don’t need to spend much time in the Piccadilly Valley to realise why this area was granted sub-regional status–it is totally different to the rest of the Hills. In short, it’s much colder and wetter. Ashton Hills lies at 570 metres above sea level and the vines shudder through some of the coolest vintage conditions in the country. Meanwhile, rainfall is a whopping 1200mm a year, well over double that of the Barossa. Whether it’s the lifted perfumes, elegant structure and Alpine freshness of the Pinot Noirs or the icy purity of the Riesling, Piccadilly Valley’s bona-fide cool-climate imprint is never far away.
The Estate Pinot Noir is sourced purely from our five preferred clones. The pinot fruit is destemmed via a small, customised, gentle destemmer that keeps as many whole berries as possible. The fruit is then basket pressed, and the wine is made without any sulphur additions until bottling. Some whole bunches are included, and the percentage varies according to the style of the vintage. The pinot is then matured in one and two year old barriques prior to bottling. It is designed to be enjoyed upon release, however careful cellaring will see the wine evolve handsomely for at least another five years.
As the label suggests, this is made from 100% Ashton Hills’ vineyard fruit. It comes from four clones: 57% from D5V12, 23% from Martini, 13% from 777 and 7% from MV6. The fruit is mostly destemmed via a small, customised destemmer that keeps as many whole berries as possible. The fruit is then basket pressed, naturally fermented and the wine is raised without any sulphur additions until bottling. Some whole bunches are included, and the percentage varies according to the style of the vintage. The wine is mostly raised in aged, neutral French hogshead barrels, although sees roughly 20% new oak. A step up in flesh and depth here on every level, colour, nose, and palate. It’s a textured fleshy wine with lots of sweet, strawberry fruit and that resinous, cool forest note that is so typical of these wines. Nice spicy close. Lovely.
92 points, James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2018 “The nose here is characterized by boysenberries, fresh raspberries and rose petals. Medium to full body, fluid yet sturdy tannins, good acidity and a fresh finish. A nice Chinese herbal streak to this. Holds long.”
92 points, jamessuckling.com “A blend of four estate-grown clones, matured in new and used French oak. The colour shows distinct development, the palate likewise. But it’s a true manifestation of pinot noir a la Ashton Hills with its mix of spicy/savoury fruit and fine-spun tannins.”
RRP $60 Last bottles
