Airline pilots make surprisingly good wine. Their appreciation of the sciences, a respect for the weather and a bird's eye view of the land, all invaluable to the winemaker's art. John Ellis would take every opportune weekend away from his regular New York Paris route, to pursue a passion for viticulture. He planted the first commercial Cabernet Merlot vines in the Hamptons and found time between trans atlantic flights to work vintages amongst the Grand Cru vineyards of La Bourgogne. Ellis ultimately made the great lifelong sea change in favour of our land downunder. He settled on a farmstead outside Leongatha, amongst the slow ripening pastures of Gippsland and established a vineyard called Bellvale. It is now a place of fully mature vines and old world Burgundian techniques, sur lie et sauvage, barrel ferments and batonnage. Bellvale remains artisanally small batch, just 23 hectares of vine yields a measured harvest of spectacular quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, la saveur de la France from the top pick of Gippsland..
Placing pinot amongst the pastures»
Fine, crisp and well balanced, making for an elegant wine with good persistence. Lock & Key have placed Hilltops firmly on the map with their fresh and dry, fragrant articulation of Riesling... More»
The palate is rich and concentrated with sweet fruit and hints of nutmeg. A stately Victorian Cabernet Sauvignon and the Brown Brothers flagship, released at five years of age... More»
Richly flavoured with intense red fruits, well balanced subtle sweetness and spicy well integrated oak to a delicate, lingering finish. From plantings dating back to the late 1970s, older well established vines on free draining silty clay loams, yielding fully... More»
An elegant wine of excellent flavour concentration, juicy, ripe fruit, blackberries, dark cherry and mulberry. A collation of fruit from the Voyager North Block and Weightmans vineyards at Margaret River, enhanced by a choice component... More»
Rich and full flavoured palate, plum and blackberry and fruit jam flavours, chocolates and dusty carob over gentle, soft tannins. Rutherglen is possibly the only productive enclave of world class Durif wines anywhere on earth... More»
The well delineated palate offers tremendous texture and combines glorious fruit purity with subtle complexities and savoury elegance. Dave Powell was honoured when good friend Ignatius Chan asked him to make a wine for his renowned Singapore establishment... More»
Returned servicemen from the Great War could look forward to government grants of pastoral freehold. West Australia's Willyabrup Valley was such a place, just a short walk from the balmy beaches of Indian Ocean, it offered the veterans excellent potential for agriculture. The fertile lands of Sussex Vale were originally established to animal husbandry by the discharged troopers, generations of livestock enriched the soils and it was astutely sown to vines in 1973. Fortuitously placed at the very heart of the Australian west's most illustrious estates, it continued to occupy the thoughts of neighbouring Howard Park's chief winemaker, until he acquired the property and relaunched a softly spoken range of the most exquisite wines. Aspirants..
A better block on hay shed hill»
An Irish cobbler named Reilly settled into the tiny Clare Valley township of Mintaro circa 1856. He converted a stone barn into a homestead cottage. Reilly's Cottage served as the local cobbler's shop in the centre of the bustling town, which had boomed after the establishment of salubrious slate quarries. Almost 140 years later, the cottage has been restored to its former glory by relatives of Reilly, the family Ardill, once again it is a hive of activity, home to the eminent and award winning range of Reilly..
There once was a man named reilly»