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Cape Mentelle – Chapman Brook Vineyard, Margaret River

Chapman Brook Vineyard is Cape Mentelle’s white wine engine room – a 49.54-hectare property in the southern half of the Margaret River appellation, around 16 kilometres inland from the Indian Ocean, producing the fruit behind a range of wines – chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, semillon and shiraz – spanning from the Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon ($30) through to the Heritage Chardonnay ($105). First planted in 1993 and managed within the Cape Mentelle portfolio ever since, the site sits on an undulating landscape of sandy loam soils with pockets of ironstone, through which the Chapman Brook – its namesake – runs. Surrounded by native bushland and farmland, the vineyard benefits from a diurnal temperature range of 13 to 20 degrees through summer, that cool overnight reprieve preserving acidity and allowing fruit to reach full phenological ripeness without sacrificing freshness. At its helm is Annabel Angland, a viticulturist combining rigorous data-driven site management with a clear commitment to expressing what Chapman Brook, specifically, is capable of producing.

Caledon Estate, Coal River Valley

Caledon Estate is a young vineyard on an uncompromising site. Planted in 2019 by owners James and Karen Stewart on a steep, exposed property in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley and today managed by viticulturist Justin Folloso, the 11.27-hectare vineyard climbs from 30 metres above sea level at its lowest point to 140 metres at its highest, battling prevailing north-westerly winds, shallow rocky soils and a harshness that the site makes no attempt to conceal. Six-year-old vines of pinot noir, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot gris, riesling and a small planting of cabernet sauvignon grow on their own roots, sourced mainly from cuttings from Spring Vale on Tasmania’s east coast. The fruit is made into the Caledon Estate range by winemaker Matt Wood of Spring Vale, with small parcels sold to select producers – including a pinot noir to Cave Wines – as the label builds its range of single-vineyard bottlings. It is early days, but the wines are already drawing attention, and the site itself is unlike anything else attempted in the state.

Tallavera Grove Vineyard, Hunter Valley

Can you have the best of both worlds – the funky swagger of alternative varieties, matched with the soulful intensity of old vines. Jeremy O’Brien’s thoughtful grafting work at Briar Ridge’s Hunter estate vineyard, Tallavera Grove, argues that you can, in fact, have it all. This thirty-two hectare vineyard, planted on a mosaic of different soils over limestone bedrock, is home to old vines of shiraz, semillon and chardonnay, planted in 1971 – supplemented by new plantings and graft-overs of verdelho, fiano, vermentino, albariño, sagrantino, montepulciano, nero d’avola, petit verdot, muscat, tempranillo, and riesling. The end result is a vineyard that maintains its old-vine soulfulness while being able to meet the changing demands of the consumer market and mitigate against a warming climate.

Boston Bay Vineyard, The Peninsulas

Boston Bay’s estate vineyard – nine hectares of riesling, merlot, sauvignon blanc, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon vines grown on calcareous loams over limestone soils just outside of South Australia’s Port Lincoln – is a quiet trailblazer. It was the first vineyard planted on the Eyre Peninsula, and therefore was instrumental in the creation of the official geographical indication The Peninsulas. It’s also one of the most coastal vineyards in Australia, situated just forty-five metres from the Southern Ocean. That proximity to the sea profoundly shapes the grapes grown here, keeping fruit cool throughout the growing season and concentrating flavours.

Box Grove Vineyard, Nagambie Lakes

Box Grove Vineyard is a 27-hectare property in the parish of Tabilk in the Nagambie Lakes sub-region of the Goulburn Valley, planted in 1996 and owned and operated by Sarah Gough, with Callan Randall as vineyard manager. Where the vineyard began as a conventional commercial operation growing shiraz and cabernet sauvignon under contract for a large wine company, it has since been comprehensively transformed – through a decade and a half of progressive grafting – into one of the most varied and unusual vineyards in Victoria, now home to fifteen varieties drawn from Italy, southern France and Portugal. Accredited as Sustainable Winegrowers by the AWRI, Box Grove produces its own wines as well as supplying fruit to a tight cohort of innovative smaller producers including Fin, Ephemera, Mac Forbes, Vino Intrepido, Tar and Roses, Pfeiffer and others. The site is defined by soils of deep red clay and banks of granite sand over ancient decomposed creek beds, with Lake Nagambie moderating the extremes of a warm, dry growing season.

Blue Pyrenees Estate, Pyrenees

Founded in 1963 by French Cognac house Rémy Martin as Château Rémy, Blue Pyrenees Estate was among the first vineyards to revive winemaking in Victoria after phylloxera, and played a defining role in establishing the Pyrenees as a premium wine region. Today 100 per cent Australian-owned by the Richmond-Smith family and managed by viticulturist Scott Gerrard, the 147-hectare estate near Avoca grows 15 varieties across 55 individual blocks – elevations from 260 to 330 metres, soils ranging from gravelly valley-floor sands to quartz and sandstone on elevated slopes, and vines with an average age of 39 years. The estate is transitioning to organic management and produces a broad range of estate-grown sparkling, white and red wines, anchored by the flagship Richardson Reserve Shiraz and Richardson Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($160).

Yeringberg Vineyard, Yarra Valley

Located along the ‘Golden Mile’ of the Coldstream subregion of the Yarra Valley, the Yeringberg farm encompasses 500 hectares, of which a mere 26 are planted to grapevines. Despite their small footprint within the larger sheep and cattle farm, those 26 hectares comprise some of the Yarra Valley (and Australia’s) most famed rows. First planted in 1967, with additions throughout the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, Yeringberg’s old vines speak to a history of grape-growing in the Yarra Valley that stretches back to 1838. The varieties in the ground here are a suitably classic French-inspired blend: Burgundian mainstays pinot noir and chardonnay, Rhône stalwarts shiraz, viognier, marsanne and roussanne, and the Bordeaux noble family of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot. They tell not only the story of this plot of land, but also of the revival of the Yarra Valley’s dormant wine industry – rising phoenix-like from the ashes to become one of the country’s major players once again.

Sailor Seeks Horse Vineyard, Huon Valley, Tasmania

Tucked into into a steep, sandy slope at Cradoc in Tasmania’s cool Huon Valley, Sailor Seeks Horse spans eight hectares planted in 2005–2018 on sandstone-derived Permian mudstone. This steep, nutrient-lean site – just warm enough to ripen pinot noir, chardonnay, trousseau, and chenin blanc – relies on dry farming for deep roots and expressive fruit, though arid summers prompt undervine mulching. Wines include three cuvees of pinot noir as well as chardonnay, with trousseau and chenin blanc still maturing. The wines have lightness of touch with an underlying power, with a salinity born of sandy quartz-like soils and and layered complexity thanks to the varied terrain. Cared for by Paul and Gilli Lipscombe, Sailor Seeks Horse is a testament to patience and place.

Cape Mentelle – Chapman Brook Vineyard, Margaret River Annabel Angland

Cape Mentelle – Chapman Brook Vineyard, Margaret River

Caledon Estate, Coal River Valley

Tallavera Grove Vineyard, Hunter Valley

Boston Bay Vineyard, The Peninsulas

Box Grove Vineyard, Nagambie Lakes

Blue Pyrenees Estate, Pyrenees

Yeringberg Vineyard, Yarra Valley

Sailor Seeks Horse Vineyard, Huon Valley, Tasmania

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