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Welcome To Bellvale»
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.. Placing pinot amongst the pastures»
Nabobs & The Nursery»
Tim and Simon and all the Wicks, nurse the rootstock and foster the clones which are in highest demand by the Adelaide Hills most accomplished vignerons. The Wicks are Adelaide Hills born and bred, they called upon an old mate named Tim Knappstein to assist in the establishment of a vineyard and wineworks, set amongst the ancient eucalypts on the scenic slopes of Woodside. Each and every planting was determined according to a viticultural algorithm, based on clonal selections and terroir, aspect, soils and clime. The shrubs reached maturity and the wines that flowed are claiming a conspicuous tally of triumphs at significant national wine shows... The wonderful wines of wicks»
Ordinance Of Oliver»
One of the closely guarded secrets which remained cardinal to the preeminence of Grange Hermitage, was the sacred tally of exceptional vineyards which were called on to provide fruit for the new world's most stately Shiraz. The elite Grange Growers Club is one of the nation's more exclusive fellowships, an illustrious canon of distinguished wine growing families which are the stuff of Australian viticultural history. One of McLaren Vale's most eminent dynasties, Oliver's of Taranga were an essential inclusion into many of the mighty Grange's most memorable vintages. Oliver Taranga's estate flagship HJ Reserve Shiraz represents peerless value for a wine.. A principal part of the great grange»
Drinks Around The Derwent»
There are fewer than twenty hectares of Stefano Lubiana vines, overlooking the spectacular tidal estuary of Derwent River. Chosen for its felicitious winegrowing aspects, it is a place of scrupulously clean soils, free of any pesticides or manufactured treatments. Insects are welcome here, they are mother nature's endorsement of a holistically biodynamic viticulture. Lubiana is a fifth generation winemaker, one of the apple isle's leading vignerons, he works to an arcane system of seasonal chronometers, governed by cosmic rhythms, the turning of leaves and angle of the moon. His wines are given full indulgence to make themselves. Ferments lie undisturbed.. Celestial wines from southern climes»

Pepper Tree Merlot CONFIRM VINTAGE

Merlot Wrattonbully South Australia
Wrattonbully makes Merlot of exceptional character and flavour, arguably the finest and most consistent annual yields in Australia. The wines are distinctive for their blueberry, plum and mint character, sound structure and velvet tannins. Pepper Tree's Merlot vines are fortuitously planted to heavier clay soils at the toe of the main Wrattonbully dune, as heavy clays have proved to be the best soils for Merlot in its traditional home of Bordeaux. A soft and rich, profoundly fruit driven Merlot wine with more power and weight of varietal flavour than most.
Available by the dozen
Case of 12
$275.00
The prominent viticultural feature of Wrattonbully is a series of ancient beach ridges and dunes which run north/ south, made of soft crumbly limestone which weather to produce the red and brown Terra rossa clay loam soils that are so highly prized for growing outstanding quality wine grapes. The higher elevation brings the advantage cold air drainage which reduces the risk of frost throughout the colder months of the growing season. Harvests of Merlot from choice Wrattonbully vineyards are treated to a fortnight on skins in static fermenters, pressed off skins and racked to a selection of fine French oak barrels for eighteen months before assembling into the final wine.
Deep purple red colour. An aromatic Merlot nose of black and red fruits with spicy lift and subtle oak. A fully ripe, classically medium bodied palate, packed with sweet berry fruits and spice, balanced by subtle French oak and fine, long velvet tannins, before a lingering complex finish. Enjoy with polpette e papardelle or coq au vin.
Pepper Tree
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Pepper Tree
Although Pepper Tree winery is sited in the Hunter Valley and founded as a Hunter Valley winery, the winemakers believe that grapes grown in other regions exhibited characters that should be explored

Over the years Pepper Tree have acquired vineyards in the Orange, Wrattonbully and Coonawarra growing areas to enable the winemaker production of varietal wines that either did not grow as well in the Hunter Valley, or are different expressions of a particular varietal that are of interest to connoisseurs of fine wines. The character and complexity reflected in the Appellation wines are an expression of diverse vineyard resources. A second is the balance and elegance in the Multi-Regional range of varietals. These are blends of a varietal wine made from grapes grown at two or more of vineyards that vary from year to year. All Pepper Tree wines are produced, aged and bottled at the winery.

Pepper Tree

The Hunter Valley is one of Australia's best white wine areas and consistently wins a disproportionate number of awards in National Wine Shows. Pepper Tree's Hunter Valley vineyard is in the Mount View area of the Lower Hunter Valley in the sheltered foothills of the Brokenback Range and covers 38.5 ha of plantings made up of 16.5 ha Chardonnay, 2.5 ha Verdelho, 3.7 ha Semillon, 7.5 ha Shiraz, 1 ha Viognier, 1 ha Sauvignon blanc, 3 ha Merlot, 2.4 ha Cabernet, 0.5 ha Grenache and 0.5 ha Pinot Noir.

The Mount View area produces highly distinctive Chardonnay with flavours of melon, passionfruit and pineapple. Verdelho also performs well in the area with soft tropical fruit characters balanced by good natural acidity. Semillon has the usual lime-citrus characters with flavours being at the higher end for the variety. Shiraz from the area is typically soft, spicy and elegant with a perfumed bouquet.

The Orange region of New South Wales is one of Australia's newest premium regions being favoured for its high altitude cool climate. Situated approximately 270 km west of Sydney the topography and soils of the Orange region are dominated by the extinct volcano Mt Canobolas. Pepper Tree's Orange vineyard sits in a small subvalley protected on 3 sides with a sunny northerly aspect. Elevations vary from 740m to 800m and the site is capable of ripening all the main red varieties as well as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Cabernet, Merlot & Shiraz all produce wines with deep red colours and intense palate complexity.

Pepper Tree

The wines from Pepper Tree's Orange vineyard typically have a lighter more elegant structure than those of warmer areas with light lifted fruit acids lengthening the palate. In addition to the main red varieties, small blocks of Pinot Noir (for sparkling base) & Zinfandel have been planted. Zinfandel produces rich spice and berry characters with crimson red colours. This variety seems well suited to the Orange region and the wines show great promise.

Coonawarra is Australia's top red wine area specialising in Cabernet Sauvignon of great complexity and elegance. Pepper Tree's Coonawarra vineyard comprises 8 ha of Cabernet and 4 ha of Merlot and is located midway between the town of Penola & Coonawarra. Soils consist of thin dark brown to dark grey clays interspersed with broken limestone fragments. The shallow soils restrict vigour and this, coupled with rigorous canopy management, allows the vignerons to control berry size and bunch numbers and thus eventual crop load. This control of crop level and berry size gives the winemakers the best possible starting material with which to create premium red wines.

Pepper Tree's Wrattonbully vineyard covers 100ha of plantings, mainly Cabernet (48 ha) Merlot (23 ha) and Shiraz (20 ha). Cabernet is planted on the highest dune areas where Terra Rossa soils overlie shallow limestone. Individual blocks are given separate canopy management, cropping structure and moisture control according to soil depth which can vary from a few centimetres to over 1 metre.

Flavour maps constructed for the vineyard have shown considerable variability for both Cabernet and Shiraz, and have allowed the winemakers to isolate individual sections of the vineyard to produce parcels of outstanding quality. Merlot is planted on heavier clay soils at the toe of the main dune as heavy clays have proved best for Merlot in its traditional homeland.

Pepper Tree