Winemaker "Elegant, driven & focused. Aromas of Fresh stonefruit and fig with hints of macadamia, the palate is fresh and approachable - attractive peach and nectarine, supported by a soft underlying acidity and creamy texture with harmonious oak. Drink now or cellar confidently for 5+ years."

The Elderton Vineyard began when early German settlers gave the name to a vineyard on the banks of the North Para River in Nuriootpa in 1894. In 1916 it was purchased by Samuel Elderton Tolley who built himself a sprawling homestead on the estate and sold fruit to his family’s winery. In 1979 Lorraine and Neil Ashmead were given a proposal, “If you buy the house, I will give you the surrounding 72 acres of old vines for nothing.” The rambling old homestead looked ideal for a growing family and the Ashmead’s worked tirelessly to salvage and restore this treasure of a vineyard.

In 1982, the first wine was made under the Elderton label. Tough times prevailed but ultimately the vision of the founders shone through and Elderton is today celebrated as a major reason for the rejuvenation of the Barossa. In 1993 Elderton shot to national prominence after winning the Jimmy Watson Trophy. International success ensued.

The second generation took the reins of the business in 2003. Brothers Cameron and Allister believe very strongly in continuing the traditions that began a generation earlier, on the Nuriootpa vineyard. They want to take the family company to the next level, so together they devised a plan to buy great vineyards in other significant sub appellations of the Barossa. Through using sustainable practices, the hope is that the next generation of the Ashmead family have a lot to work with when they are at the helm.

We sit down with Cameron and Allister from Elderton - Read article

Eden Valley is a wine making region sharing a boundary with the Barossa Valley and is dotted with the rolling hills of the Barossa Ranges. The Eden valley competes with the Clare Valley for the top-spot in high-quality Riesling production and the grapes thrive in the cool climate of the region. The other varietal that is important to this area is Shiraz and this is responsible for some of Eden Valley’s most highly acclaimed wines – the styles differ from those produced in south eastern Australia in that they have riper and smoother tannins and more ripe black fruit aromas with sweet spice notes. The wines are extremely well-balanced and both the reds and whites garner a great deal of complexity during the ageing process.

Featured in James Halliday's 2019 Top 100 Whites Under $25

95 Points - James Halliday "This has the typical energy, finesse and drive that makes Hoddles Creek have a ‘must buy' tag year in, year out. It has all the power needed to cruise through the next 10 years, with grapefruit, Granny Smith apple and stone fruit decorated with a necklace of bracing acidity."

Gary Walsh (The Wine Front) "Juicy and peachy, spiced oatmeal, fennel and a little stuck match. It’s flavoursome with ripe pear and nectarine flavour, flinty texture, an appealing grapefruit cut to the acidity, and a long, well-defined chalky finish. Feel the quality of quiet confidence. It’s a great thing to drink even as a young wine, though a couple of years will help it along too."

Hoddles Creek Estate is owned and run by the D’Anna family who first established a vineyard in 1997 on the property that had been in the family since the 1960’s. The vineyard consists of predominately Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with additional blocks of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Due to the steeply sloping aspect of the vineyard, machine harvesting is not possible and all pruning and harvesting has to be done by hand which ultimately ensures minimal fruit damage and a higher quality of fruit. The estate is located in the Upper Yarra Valley which experiences a cooler climate which leads to greater freshness and finesse in the wines.

The viticulturalist and winemaker at Hoddles Creek Estate is Franco D’Anna who begin his career at the age of 13, working in the family liquor store, becoming the chief wine buyer by the age of 21. After completing his Bachelor of Commerce degree, Franco went on to study viticulture at Charles Sturt University whilst helping to maintain a newly planted vineyard, and working a vintage at James Halliday’s Coldstream Hills and two years at Witchmount, gaining further experience in subsequent years in France, Sicily and Northern Italy. Franco sought mentoring from Mario Marsen from Mount Mary who consulted on Hoddles Creek’s first vintage.

Inspired by how his Grandfather did it back in Italy, Franco’s philosophy is about simplicity and making traditional wines with minimal intervention. The winery is split level with the tanks upstairs and the barrel store located 3 metres underground allowing the wines to be gravity fed, using no artificial cooling or heating, simply opening the doors of the winery at night to let in the natural cool air all leading to a gentler winemaking process.

Franco’s notes his experiences in winemaking across the world as having significant influences on his style, learning something new from each place. His experience at James Halliday’s Coldstream winery taught him how fundamental a rigorous hygiene practice is in the winery, his time spent in Gevrey-Chambertin with Pierre Naigeon about monitoring tannin levels to produce gentler, finer tannins that help the wine to age. His time in Barolo working with Nebbiolo furthered his understanding on tannin management and at Mount Etna in Sicily, Franco gained a deep understanding of the natural wine movement.

Our exclusive Q&A with Franco D'Anna of Hoddles Creek Estate - Read more

Located just east of Melbourne in Victoria and surrounding the Yarra River, Yarra Valley enjoys a mix of influences both Mediterranean and continental with the two main soil types being the bright red, fertile, volcanic soil found mainly around Seville. Yarra Valley has a climate slightly cooler than Bordeaux enabling a range of grapes from Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Sauvignon and Semillon to Rhone varieties such as Shiraz, Mourvedre, Viognier and Roussanne, but it is the cool climate varieties, most notably Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that the region is becoming most well known for, rivalling the great wines that are coming out of Margaret River and Tasmania.

It is known as the birthplace of Victoria with vines first being planted back in 1838, the region’s wine industry grew rapidly up until the early part of the 21st Century when the wine industry ceased production due to increased demand for fortified wine. It wasn’t until the 1960’s when names such as Dr Bailey Carrodus of Yarra Yerring and Dr John Middleton began replanting that the regions industry was revived. These names who were responsible for bringing the region back to life, have inspired a new generation of winemaker to continue taking the region forward and now Yarra Valley’s wine industry is thriving.

The Yarra Valley has a reputation across Australia as being a region that is buzzing with creativity. With experimental winemakers, pushing the boundaries, creating a culture of ground breaking, innovative winemaking that is driving Yarra Valley’s reputation as one of the most exciting regions in Australia today. This tendency towards pushing the boundaries of winemaking has spawned a minimalist movement in the region and you can find many producers that are creating wines with the absolute minimum of interference, sometimes bottling the wines unfined or unfiltered.

One of the most exciting producers that we’ve discovered from Yarra Valley is Hoddles Creek Estate, owned by winemaker Franco D’Anna. Franco specialises in creating Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. With the majority of their plantings in the cooler upper Yarra Valley, Hoddles Creek keep to the Yarra ethos of minimal, gentle winemaking and have created a range of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that are up there with some of Australia’s very best.

James Halliday "If you ever want to show someone just how glorious the riesling grape can be, serve them a glass of this. It's agenda-free riesling, fundamentally delicious, intense with flavour but not cutting, gorgeous at every turn, cellarworthy if you so desire but in no way is patience a prerequisite. Lime, orange blossom, a gently candied aspect, a slip of pure lemon. It's bold and it's beautiful."

We are thrilled to introduce our latest partnership with one of Eden Valley’s most historic producers. Hutton Vale Farm were put in touch with us by Craig Stansborough of After Five Wine Co who felt that “we would make a good fit”. Owned by the Angas family, Hutton Vale Farm has an incredible story with an ancestry steeped in Australian history dating back to George Fife Angas who founded South Australia. However it was the mention of the Mount Edelstone vineyard, one of the most famous and revered sites in Australia, which is now owned by Henschke that caught our attention.

It was Ronald Angas, (the Great-Grandfather) who originally planted the great Mount Edelstone vineyard in 1912 and unusually for the time, planted 100% Shiraz. Ronald managed the vineyard and began selling the fruit to the Henschke family until they eventually sold it to Henschke in the 1970s. During the 1960s Ronald had taken cuttings from the Mount Edelstone vineyard and planted the Hutton Vale Farm vineyard just one kilometre north. At the same time, he planted single vineyard blocks of Riesling and Grenache which were followed by a further block of Shiraz (from the same root stock) and a single block of Cabernet Sauvignon during the 1990s.

The first vintage was in 1987 with John Duval, the Penfolds Grange winemaker at the time who was also a family friend, who had promised to show the family how good the fruit was. The wines are now produced by Kym Teusner of Teusner wines who first became familiar and developed an ambition to work with the Hutton Vale fruit whilst at Torbreck.

The vineyard contains some of the most sought after fruit in the region, the sheer quality of this fruit continuously confirmed by some of Barossa’s best producers who source grapes from the Hutton Vale Farm vineyard for their flagship wines. Wolf Blass platinum had previously won the title of world’s best Shiraz using fruit from the Hutton Vale vineyard which is an incredible statement to be able to make. But perhaps even more impressive to us was to learn that Dan Standish also used Hutton Vale grapes for his 99 point scoring Lamella, the wine that we had sold out of before it even docked in the UK!

In conversation with Stuart Angas from Hutton Vale Farm - Read more

Barossa’s story began in the mid 1800s when a group of Silesian Lutherans, fleeing religious persecution, settled in the region and began working the land of Barossa’s largest land owner George Fife Angas. The settlers took to growing fruit and due to the climate in the region, grapes were most ideally suited and toward the end of the 1800s, several wineries had been established. Distinctly Germanic names such a Johann Henschke, Oscar Seppelt of Seppeltsfield and Kaesler that are leading names in the Barossa wine industry today are evidence of these early pioneers, and many are continuing today through several generations of the same family.

The wines were originally produced for religious and home use but it didn’t take long before they were being made commercially and by the start of the 20th Century wine was being exported back to England. The demand for fortified wine was huge and this coupled with the long journey on water, fortified wines dominated Barossa’s wine market right up until the end of the 1960s, but this would lead to a crisis that would set the industry into decline. As demand for fortified wines dried up, many growers were left unprofitable and the South Australian Government introduced the vine pull scheme, uprooting many of Barossa’s ancient vines during the 1980s. It took the efforts of some of the regions new faces of the time to bring the industry back by paying the growers above market value for their grapes, and saving the old vines that have become a hallmark of Barossa wine.

It is Barossa’s ancient vines that have shaped the region's style and reputation and the forward thinking attitude of the region's producers is one that is only beginning to filter through to the rest of the wine world. The winemakers of the 1980s helped to revive Barossa’s heritage, paving the way for the next generation of Barossa winemakers and this balance between heritage and progression has continued with an unparalleled energy through the region's newest and brightest stars of the 21st Century.

The Barossa Valley is warm and dry with low rainfall and low humidity, which can lead to a risk of drought during the growing season. It’s lower in altitude and is typified by gentle, rolling hills and valleys and is home to some of the world’s oldest clusters of vines, some of which are over 125 years old. These old vines are very low yielding and produce exceptionally concentrated fruit which is exploited by producers like Greenock Creek, Hobbs and Standish to make very rich and powerful wines that due to their concentration, often reach high levels of alcohol. Although several varieties are grown across Barossa, by far the most widely planted is Shiraz, producing rich, fruit forward wines. In the past, Barossa’s reputation has suffered from this rich style of wine, with consumers and producers favouring wines from cooler areas of Australia. However, a wave of smaller, artisan wineries began to pop up during the 1980’s and 1990’s and brought a resurgence to this region.

Explore the Barossa - Read more

96+ Points - Stuart McCloskey “The Upper Ngumby vineyard is within the confines of Yarra Glen, sloping gently east. It is protected from the late afternoon sun by the Christmas Hills, rising up to the west. The fruit was barrel fermented with 100% wild yeast, matured on lees for eight months with some secondary fermentation to create depth and finesse, which team Soumah succeed effortlessly. The nose offers a mix of lemon zest, minéralité and ozone. Serenely pure in two words. The palate is long and sophisticated. Full of drive, vigour and energy – lovely freshness and very moreish. This will flourish with more time in the bottle, drink now to 2025.”

96+ Points - Magdalena Sienkiewicz "Elegant struck match on the nose reveals white nectarine with aeration. Although it is slightly leaner than Hexham, there is still an incredible sense of precision here. The palate is textural bliss as it balances effortlessly between ripe stone fruit, citrus and minerals. Svelte and perfectly composed – a testament to Soumah’s great vineyards and skilful winemaking. Delicious today, but a little rest in the cellar will be rewarded."

Unravelling the story behind the exotically named Soumah, it is in fact an abbreviation of South of Maroondah, hinting its location in the heart of Yarra Valley. Their wines however are far from exotic and instead they brim with a cool climate character and provenance of the majestic Yarra Valley. The perfect state of balance, calmness and composure of Soumah wines are expressed across the range, with the flagship wines receiving a graceful name ‘Equilibrio’. The global press wax lyrical with strings of medals including the Decanter Gold winning Equilibrio Chardonnay and Decanter Platinum Equilibrio Pinot Noir.

Located just east of Melbourne in Victoria and surrounding the Yarra River, Yarra Valley enjoys a mix of influences both Mediterranean and continental with the two main soil types being the bright red, fertile, volcanic soil found mainly around Seville. Yarra Valley has a climate slightly cooler than Bordeaux enabling a range of grapes from Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Sauvignon and Semillon to Rhone varieties such as Shiraz, Mourvedre, Viognier and Roussanne, but it is the cool climate varieties, most notably Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that the region is becoming most well known for, rivalling the great wines that are coming out of Margaret River and Tasmania.

It is known as the birthplace of Victoria with vines first being planted back in 1838, the region’s wine industry grew rapidly up until the early part of the 21st Century when the wine industry ceased production due to increased demand for fortified wine. It wasn’t until the 1960’s when names such as Dr Bailey Carrodus of Yarra Yerring and Dr John Middleton began replanting that the regions industry was revived. These names who were responsible for bringing the region back to life, have inspired a new generation of winemaker to continue taking the region forward and now Yarra Valley’s wine industry is thriving.

The Yarra Valley has a reputation across Australia as being a region that is buzzing with creativity. With experimental winemakers, pushing the boundaries, creating a culture of ground breaking, innovative winemaking that is driving Yarra Valley’s reputation as one of the most exciting regions in Australia today. This tendency towards pushing the boundaries of winemaking has spawned a minimalist movement in the region and you can find many producers that are creating wines with the absolute minimum of interference, sometimes bottling the wines unfined or unfiltered.

One of the most exciting producers that we’ve discovered from Yarra Valley is Hoddles Creek Estate, owned by winemaker Franco D’Anna. Franco specialises in creating Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. With the majority of their plantings in the cooler upper Yarra Valley, Hoddles Creek keep to the Yarra ethos of minimal, gentle winemaking and have created a range of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that are up there with some of Australia’s very best.

Score:94

80% cool-fermented in stainless steel, 20% as cloudy juice in used French oak. This gives a tactile flavour expression equalled by few other Australian sauvignon blancs. It's not about Marlborough, but the Loire Valley/Bordeaux of France at half the price.

James Halliday

Being named as "the newest buzz in Margaret River", Domaine Naturaliste is the project of Bruce Dukes, a highly experienced winemaker with a career spanning over 25 years... it is Bruce’s belief that a holistic approach reaps the greatest rewards, both for the wine and the environment.

Whilst completing his degree, Bruce worked as assistant winemaker for Francis Ford Coppola at Niebaum- Coppola in the Napa Valley and has also had a significant stint at the great Pierro Winery closer to home in Margaret River. Bruce approaches winemaking with the passion of an Agronomist, beginning with a deep understanding of soils and sustainable farming practices, it is Bruce’s belief that a holistic approach reaps the greatest rewards, both for the wine and the environment.

Domaine Naturaliste vineyards are located in the heart of the highly regarded Wilyabrup sub-region, located on the north eastern coast of Margaret River. The vines are 7 km inland from the magnificent Indian ocean. The gravelly loam soils provide a stable foundation for the 20 year old grapevines, allowing them to achieve the perfect balance. The maritime climate is characterised by cool wet winters, and long gentle summers. The Karri Trees that dominate the landscape here, provide shelter from the prevailing westerly and south-westerly winds that blow in from the Indian Ocean, making the area a pristine environment for growing high quality grapes.

The flagship wine of Domaine Naturaliste is the Morus Cabernet Sauvignon which is sourced from the very best and very oldest vineyard in the Bruce’s portfolio. The Morus Cabernet vines are some of the most coveted and the vineyard is considered to be amongst the most elite sites in all of Margaret River.

Domaine Naturaliste Wins Best Value Winery of the Year in Wine Companion Awards - Read more

Perched all the way over on Australia’s most south westerly tip is Margaret River. A region that accounts for less than 5% of Australia’s wine production but is responsible for 20% of the premium wines and the lion’s share of awards. Probably best known as the region that produces some of the new world’s finest Cabernet, Margaret River specialises not only in red and white, Bordeaux style wines but the region is also gaining a reputation for premium Chardonnays that rival some of the best found in Burgundy. Deep Woods have scooped up a multitude of awards across their range, including gold medals and a staggering 98 points awarded for their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2017. Nocturne’s 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is receiving plenty of recognition and all but one of Flowstone’s wines have been awarded 95 points or above. The list of awards given to this tiny area in Australia’s most isolated region is endless and it’s no wonder that Margaret River is dominating Australia’s premium sector.