NSW Hilltops region

Australian Wine Selector - Summer 2003

The potential of the NSW Hilltops region to produce premium red wine is underestimated by many people, according to McWilliam’s chief winemaker Jim Brayne. “They (Hilltops reds) really are in the top echelon of NSW wine.” The wines produced from McWilliam’s Barwang vineyard have won more than 800 awards since the company bought the property in 1989, Brayne said, vindicating the company’s faith in the region. “One of the great things about (the Barwang) vineyard is that you do get seasonal variation,” said Brayne as he surveys the rolling hills that are finally turning green after one of the severest droughts in history.

It is these picturesque hills with their rich red soil that have given the region its name, as the vines are planted on the hilltops, between 450 and 600 meters above sea level, in order to avoid occasional frosts. The warm days and cool nights during summer result in a high natural acidity and very ripe fruit flavours. Grapes were first grown in the region in 1860 by Nichole Jasprizza, a 26-year-old from Dalmatia, who produced fruit, vegetables and wine for goldminers in the area. In 1880, he was joined by three nephews who brought vine cuttings from Dalmatia and in 1900 they had 600 acres of orchards and vineyards under cultivation.

The vineyards declined during the 1930s and 1940s and by 1960 had been replaced by cherries and other stone fruit. Then in 1969, Peter Robertson established the Barwang vineyard that is now owned by McWilliam’s. He planted eight acres of grapes, with the first harvest processed in 1974 in a winery that was hastily constructed after a fruit fly outbreak prohibited the fruit being transported out of the area for processing. Today, the Hilltops region, encompassing the shires of Young, Boorowa and Harden, produces about 3000 tonnes of grapes from 1500 ha of plantings. The main varieties grown are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Riesling, Semillon and Pinot Noir, with others such as Barbera, Petit Verdot, Gewurztraminer and Sangiovese grown in small quantities.

There are five cellar doors - Grove Estate, Woodonga Hill, Chalkers Crossing, Demondrille Vineyards and Hansen Hilltops. While McWilliam’s has neither a cellar door nor a winery in the region, it can take much of the credit for putting the region on the map. Although the Barwang vineyard was only ever intended to supplement McWilliam’s other vineyards in the Hunter Valley, Riverina, Yarra Valley and Coonawarra, one of its philosophies in coming to the region was to have strong primary styles. It bottles Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Semillon under the Barwang label, and whatever it can’t use goes into the budget-priced Hanwood label (which also gets some fruit from Coonawarra and Orange, making it really smart drinking at the price).

Other varieties grown on the property, including Riesling and some Hungarian varieties that Robinson used to make Tokay, go into other blends. McWilliam’s red winemaker, Russell Cody, who has been with the company since 1995, believes Cabernet Sauvignon does best in the region and he puts it right up with Coonawarra Cabernet in terms of quality, while acknowledging its difference. “Barwang Cabernet has riper fruit characters and less of the herbaceous green character that Coonawarra Cabernet has. It’s a briar character you get out of them (here),” Cody said, adding that many liken it to the Cabernet coming out of Napa Valley in the United States. Vineyard manager Tim Swansborough has done an enormous amount of work retraining and retrellising the vines on Barwang, which Brayne said was “really paying dividends in terms of the quality of the fruit”.

The biggest winery in the Hilltops region is Chalkers Crossing (02-6382 6900), owned by Ted and Wendy Ambler, who planted their first vines and olives at “Rockleigh” near Young in late 1997. In March 2000 they converted a disused mushroom farm into a state-of-the-art winery and produced their first wines, crushing over 100 tonnes of grapes mainly from the Rockleigh vineyard but also from the Tumbarumba region. Their French-born winemaker, Celine Rousseau, has made wine in Bordeaux, Champagne and Languedoc in France, and Margaret River and the Perth Hills in Western Australia.

Rousseau is a rising star in the wine world. In 2002 she was awarded the Qantas medal for most promising young Australian winemaker, while James Halliday’s 2003 Wine Companion rated Chalkers Crossing in the top 10 new wineries in Australia. Most recently its 2002 Shiraz won Best Wine of the Show at the 2003 Murrumbateman Cool Climate Wine Show, and Best Dry Red of the Show at the Cowra Wine Show. Since 1999, the company has also produced extra virgin olive oil and in 2001 it installed an olive press adjacent to the winery.

At the opposite end of the scale, Robert Provan’s Demondrille (02-6384 4272) produces tiny batches of wine that can be tasted at its small, rustic cellar door. A delicate Riesling, an earthy Pinot Noir called Bloodline, a full-bodied Shiraz called The Raven and a refreshing Rose called Purgatory are in the line-up, along with other wines with equally interesting names. The wine is made for Provan by George Makkas who, like Provan, is a former electronic technician. Demondrille was planted in 1976 by Laurie Golderson, but it was Provan who later gave it the name Demondrille, an Aboriginal word for reeds that grow in the nearby creeks. The vineyard is planted with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Aleatico. A late-picked dessert wine is usually made from the Aleatico. Demondrille actively promotes the produce of the Hilltops region with its Tin Shed Verandah menu available at the cellar door on selected weekends.

One of the oldest wineries in the region is Lindsays Woodonga Hill, with its fabulous views down the valley to Cowra and Mt Canobolas. Jill Lindsay, a wine science graduate from Charles Sturt University, helped with the winemaking at Barwang before it was bought by McWilliam’s. She now makes wine on contract for other growers, as well as producing her own range from vines that she and her husband, Phil, have been growing since 1978. The Lindsays have consistently won awards for their Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Touriga Port. They have been making a Gewurztraminer almost from the start, the 2002 vintage showing a little bit of botrytis but a dry finish. Their 2000 Pinot Meunier is remarkably full-bodied and comes from vines that are nearly two decades old, although they have only been making it about 10 years. They also make a cherry liqueur.

Like Woodonga Hill, Grove Estate (02-6382 6999) has some less common varieties planted, including Zinfandel, Barbera and Sangiovese. As well as making the Zinfandel as a varietal and a fortified wine, it uses it in its Basazi, a blend of all three varieties. The Zinfandel has hints of licorice and berries, and interestingly – given Young’s claim to fame as the “Cherry Capital of Australia” – it has overt cherry notes. A partnership between three local families, Grove Estate produced its first wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon, in 1997 and has won numerous accolades since. In the last 10 years, more than 30 ha of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot, Zinfandel, Chardonnay and Semillon have been planted. The property, whose volcanic red soils are 500m above sea level, has had a long association with winemaking as vines were originally planted on the property by some of the early settlers back in 1886.

Some of the vines remain today, and DNA research is being carried out to determine the variety. The cellar door was once a fruit picker’s hut and a neighbouring house still has an old cellar underneath. Legend has it that the owner would ply his pickers with grog then take them down into the cellar to play poker so that he could win all his money back. Grove Estate narrowly missed out on the top award at the 2003 Murrumbateman Cool Climate Wine Show, after being awarded Best White Wine of the Show for its 2001 Riesling. The wine, which has lovely tropical fruit flavours, was sourced from the Kingsvale Vineyards, which are about 15km from the Grove Estate Vineyard, still within the Hilltops region.

Hansen Hilltops (02-6382 6363) was taken over in January 2003 by Rick and Julie Hobba. Its Barwang Ridge Vineyard near Young is part of the original “Barwang” property and is adjacent to McWilliam’s vineyard. While the new owners are continuing to open the cellar door to the public, their crop was a failure this year, and they are relying on back vintages to sell at the cellar door, including 1998 and 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon; 1999 Chardonnay and 1999 Riesling. The vineyard had been neglected for some time and Julie Hobba says they have invested considerable time and money in “trying to get it into A1 condition”. On the recommendation of a consultant hired to help steer them through the next few years, they gave the vines a really severe prune this year and hope they will be producing their own wines next year.

Just as the climate and soil in the Hilltops region produces fine wine, so is it ideal for other produce. An array of stone fruit is grown, with many orchards allowing visitors to pick their own. During cherry season in November-December, there are many roadside cherry stalls. The region boasts a flour mill, a prune and fig processing plant, a jam and pickle factory, a mustard seed oil plant, two meat processing plants, olives and olive oils, export lamb, beef, pork, duck, rabbit, organic chickens and eggs. Zouch restaurant, in an imposing old building that was once the Masonic Hall, is highly recommended for dining out in Young. Chef Susie Forrest incorporates much of the wonderful local produce in her menu.

FACT FILE

Young Visitor Information Centre: (02) 6382 3394.

© Christine Salins

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