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| After several decades of crafting Australia's most memorable vintages, Mike Press is more sanguine than ever that great wine can only come from the finest vineyards. His dedicated hands on approach means that he is personally involved in every stage of the winemaking, from pruning the vines and inspecting grapes, right to plunging the ferments and bottling his finished wine. Mike Press» |
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| Lenton Brae can justifiably claim to be one of Margaret River's leading proponents of the ebullient fusion between Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, having claimed multi trophies and gold medals for the style at regional, state and national competitions. The site was chosen after a chance conversation with the owner of Moss Wood who mentioned that the soils were uniformly excellent and equal to those of the eminent vineyard nearby. Lenton Brae» |
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| Stella Bella have won resounding critical acclaim and a reputation for producing artisanly crafted Margaret River wines of great expression, personality and quality. Stella Bella have established an almost peerless reputation after receiving numerous accolades at significant competitions, including coveted Gold and Mission Hill Trophy at the London International, the only southern hemisphere Chardonnay to win such a prestigious award.. Stella Bella» |
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| Campbell's Topaque is the most wickedly intense, lusciously rich elixir, laden with candied peel flavours, honeycombed fruit and amber complexities. Painstakingly crafted to the old world Solera system, a bespoke tradition of fractional blending and elevage, achieving the most indulgent concentration of flavour through a laborious racking of barrels as the angels take their share. Campbells» |
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| Charles Cimicky was inspired by his father to take over the reins at the family estate, that's when the good wines started turning into awesome wines. Today, Cimicky is one of the most meticulous winemakers in South Australia. Charles Cimicky» |
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| A mostly Cabernet wine with a tenth of Merlot, a jot of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, representing almost a third of Hollick's annual production. Previous vintages of Tannery Block have won numerous prestigious awards, including the pre-eminent Jimmy Watson, Robert Bryce and Arthur Kelman Trophies. Hollick» |
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| What fine Riesling Clare Valley does make, internationally recognized for wines of immaculate fruit character and delicate pastoral charm. Reillys manage many of Clare Valley's most exquisite vineyards, they bring a range of the most satisfying and approachable wines to enthusiasts with every vintage. Reillys» |
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| From two blocks of superior vines grown to the McLaren Flat estate, hand planted by the Scarpantoni brothers in the early 1970s. Brothers Block claimed Australia's most illustrious award, the highly coveted Jimmy Watson trophy in 2007. Scarpantoni» |
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| The term Terra rossa means red earth, a rich, free draining soil that is considered by many as the viticultural equivalent of discovering gold. Beneath the strata of red earth at Wrattonbully sits a layer of ancient limestone, a winegrower's dream as it allows free drainage of water, yet ensures vine roots stay close to the surface, putting natural stress on the vine and limiting its vigor and yield. Smith Hooper» |
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| Rob Sticks Dolan's career in the wine industry began under the tutelage of Greg Clayfield and John Vickery at the enduring Rouge Homme. Dolan established his affinity for Pinot Noir on the international stage when he claimed the prestigious Bouchard-Finlayson Trophy for Champion Pinot Noir at the prestigious London International. Sticks» |
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| A solid Cabernet Sauvignon with profound structure and vigorous fruit, the essential Coonawarra style, exuding rich bramble, berries and cassis aromas characters over soft, elegant tannins. Extended maturation in the finest French oak contributes to the wine's overall balance and drinkability. Hollick» |
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| A collation of superior vineyard parcels, crafted by a boutique estate which has been recognized as one of Australia's leading wineries. Clonakilla are dedicated to making distinctive, handcrafted wines, only ever released in limited quantities, anything by Clonakilla can be hard to find, but they are worth the search. Clonakilla» |
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Thistledown
About Thistledown - the Winery
Thistledown
Best known as an inspirational leader of the contemporary Grenache movement, Thistledown make small batch wines from the fruit of wonderful South Australian vineyards
It's no secret that Thistledown are obsessed with Grenache, particularly the old vine, dry grown stuff of Barossa and McLaren Vale. Maybe it's the result of years travelling around the vineyards of Spain. Grenache, in all its guises, flows through the veins of Thistledown's devoted team. They have begun assembling a collection of some of the best Grenache vineyards, with the intention of becoming the authority on Australian Grenache. Thistledown's approach to winemaking is simple. They work with remarkable sites, so the job is simply to capture and coax the extraordinary richness of that fruit into bottle, retaining as much of the personality and vitality as possible. Low yielding sites, hand picked a little earlier into the vintage, yielding vines of outstanding power and singular excellence.
Thistledown started with a vision to produce wines that are definitively of their place. Though that sounds a bit pretentious, it's just about making wines that reflect the personality of the place, the dedication of growers and passion of the winemaker. Thistledown’s unique blend of magnificent quality fruit, inspired by the experiences of winemaking amongst grand vineyards in the new world and old, as driven by two Masters of Wine, achieves wine of unsurpassable balance and subtlety, texture and detail. Wines which are already a long way down the path to perfection. Experimenting and trialling from within their base of operations in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, working to the philosophy that if they haven't made the best wines possible of each vintage, that they haven’t been trying hard enough!
The folks at Thistledown love wines with life, vibrancy of fruit, texture, tension and drinking appeal. In order to achieve this, they only work with very high quality grapes, from growers who share a vision and are prepared to deliver the most pristine fruit to the winery.
In the winery, the small batches are allowed to spontaneously ferment, using minimal extraction, concrete fermenters and the detail that oak can bring, without dominating the flavour, such that they need do as little as possible to make the best wine.
Thistledown are perfectly set up to deal with the multitude of small batches which arrive at the winery. They source fruit from many of the best sites across the iconic regions of South Australia. Thistledown work closely with growers who, like themselves, want to see the character of their vineyard as faithfully portrayed in bottle as possible. It's become the norm in some regions to give the grapes extended hang time, to encourage fruit sweetness and ripe flavours in the vineyard. Thistledown prefer to work with fruit that still has great balance of sweetness, acidity and tannin, fruit that's picked on the way up rather than on the way down. They are well along the journey of slowly gathering the very best selection of Grenache sites throughout Australia.
Over a period of time, Thistledown have succeeded in gaining access to sites that they could only have dreamed of in the early days of their quest. Privileged and grateful to the god of wine for being able to craft wines from a tally of the finest vineyards in Australia’s distinguished viticultural history.
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