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Dalliance With Dalrymple»
Discovered by Dr Bertel Sundstrup in 1987, after a long search for the perfect site, the amphitheatre known as Dalrymple is a mere twelve hectares of sun drenched bucolic idyll, at the very heart of superior viticulture on the beauteous Apple Isle. This is Piper's Brook central, a place of auspicious winegrowing climes, long hours of sunlight and extended ripening seasons, which yield fruit of remarkable succulence, gracious acids and satin tannins. Dalrymple are a small, unincorporated winegrowing concern, whose accord with the elements and devotion to the land, are best articulated by the leisured pursuits of their chief vigneron, whose favourite pastimes are sheep herding, river fishing and making smoked goose sausages. The wines of Dalrymple Estate have established a quiet repute amongst devotees of the more elegant Tasmanian styling, enduring exemplars of delicacy, effortless refinement and the most exquisite balance, eloquent of a magnificent terroir... The verdant nook on pipers brook»
Jasper Hill
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Jasper Hill
The aim is to make great wine, with the preservation of nature's flavours, complexities and balance by using minimal intervention in the vineyards and in the cellar - to allow the individual vineyard's sense of place to express itself

Jasper Hill are produced entirely on the estate using organic/biodynamic principles. The estate produce their own organic compost and have never used synthetic chemicals on either the vines or the soils, since vineyards were planted in 1975. Viticultural practices are as close to nature as possible: own rooted vines (ie. not grafted on to American rootstocks to confer Phylloxera resistance), no irrigation whatsoever, minimal tillage, natural inter-row mulching leading to broad bio-diversity, in turn giving depth and intensity to our wines. Only hand pruning of the vines and hand harvesting of the fruit can allow the human connection to the living soil.

Jasper Hill

The soils are derived from Cambrian age basaltic rock (500 million years). Quite rare in the world and particularly in Australia, here they are unusually deep (4metre), red coloured, well drained, gravelly loams on undulating hillsides, but with good moisture retention. They occur in a narrow, non-contiguous strip between two naturally occurring North/South faults, typically only a few hundred metres wide. The faults give rise to a complex mineralogy.

Soil organic matter is high, allowing great bio-diversity in micro flora and fauna and supporting large earthworm populations - all beneficial for natural soil fertility. No synthetic chemicals have ever been applied to the soil or vines; the vineyards are totally organic; no insecticides, no herbicides, no synthetic fungicides and no artificial fertilisers.

The soil surface is either covered in mulch derived from vine prunings, leguminous cover crops and native grasses, or is lightly cultivated, with aeration. Minimal tillage is practiced, within and between vine-rows, using lightweight 4WD tractors to minimise soil compaction. Minimal intervention is used during fermentation and maturation, allowing terroir or earth character of the individual paddock or plot to emerge in the wine. More importantly the grapes at harvest are flavour ripe, regardless of sugar ripeness.

Jasper Hill

The vines have a sunny, open, balanced canopy that keeps fungal diseases at bay and eliminates the need for summer pruning, leaf plucking and crop reduction. All picking and pruning is carried out by hand by wonderfully skilled people from the district. All vineyards are unirrigated and rely on natural rainfall only. Underscoring the quality of the soils, at vintage the grapes retain high levels of natural acidity. Acid adjustment is rarely ever needed, even when sugar levels reach 14 Baume or higher.

Both Emily's and Georgia's Paddocks are on elevated hillsides at an altitude of 320 metres (1000 feet) and are approximately 1 km apart. Emily’s Paddock has a NE aspect and shallower soil, while Georgia’s Paddock has a NW aspect and the deeper soil. The vineyard at Cornella, is 20km north of Emily’s Paddock, within the Heathcote Region and on the same Cambrian soil, with an altitude of 330 meters and a NE aspect. Emily's Paddock is three hectares of Shiraz including around five percent Cabernet Franc, yielding about two tonnes per hectare (14hL per hectare), planted in 1975/76. Georgia's Paddock is twelve hectares of Shiraz yielding about three tonnes per hectare (20hl per hectare). Three hectares of Riesling giving about three tonnes per hectare (20 hL per hectare). Planted in 1975/76 with further small plantings done after the vineyard was ravaged by bushfire in 1987. One hectare each of Semillon planted in 1992, and Nebbiolo planted in 1993. Cornella Vineyard is four hectares of Grenache planted in 1998.

All fermentation is carried out by indigenous (native or wild) yeasts present on the grape skins. All pressings are returned for completeness of the wine. The red wines are then racked off gross lees into small French and American oak barriques (20 percent new each year) for oak maturation of about 15 months with no racking or fining or filtration. Malolactic fermentation occurs naturally in the barrel without any inducement during late spring. After blending, they are given a coarse filtration just prior to bottling on our own state-of-the-art equipment.

Jasper Hill