About Pennys Hill - the Winery
Pennys Hill
Penny's Hill is a relatively new McLaren Vale brand, its first wines being produced from the 1995 vintage
Recognised by its distinctive red dot packaging, the Penny's Hill range is made by winemaker Ben Riggs, who uses only estate-grown fruit from the company's McLaren Vale vineyards which are managed by local viticulturist, David Paxton.
Penny's Hill is housed at Ingleburne which was owned at first by Thomas Overton who farmed the land and established a Dernier school on the property in 1848. Ingleburne was named by Thomas Goss who leased and later purchased the property in 1854. Goss had the good fortune to return from the Victorian goldfields some fifteen hundred pounds for the better. No doubt this enabled him to build the two-storied residence, so long a landmark on the way south from McLaren Vale to Willunga.
Ingleburne remained continuously in the hands of the Goss and Rowland families until it was bought in 1998 by Susie and Tony Parkinson as the new base for their Penny's Hill label. A major restoration and the development of a new cellars, gallery and function facility has been undertaken including the erection around the boundary of an impressive limestone wall by local artisan, Tige McMillan. Ingleburne is able to host a wide variety of function activities. And will continue to graze sheep, feed chooks and grow nice green grass. Art is represented by Red Dot Gallery - a venture with artist David Dridan - which ensures the representation of a wide range of painters and sculptors.
Penny's Hill is committed to producing the very finest fruit from their Penny's Hill, Goss Corner and Malpas Road Vineyards
All vines are spur pruned by hand, vertically shoot positioned and trellised using a single cordon (except for some of the Shiraz, Cabernet and Merlot on the Malpas Road Vineyard, where a double cordon is used.)
Penny's Hill have a policy of minimal use of fertilizers on the vines. Pest and disease management is all about preventative measures and minimising the use of chemicals within the vineyards. The vineyard philosophy, championed by viticulturist, Toby Bekkers, is simple; to maximise the quality of the Estate grown grapes. Penny's Hill keep crops to a minimum, and the vines are carefully hand maintained.
The Penny's Hill Vineyard 45 acres, is mostly planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay and Grenache. The vineyard was planted over five years between 1991 and 1996. Penny's Hill mark a departure from the standard McLaren Vale vineyard set up, comprising narrow plantings (2.2 metre row widths as opposed to the McLaren Vale standard of 3 metres) and high a density of vines per acre (1.5 metres in between vines as opposed to 2 metres.
By reducing the amount of grapes each vine produces Penny's Hill can increase quality and maintain yield
The vineyard comprises mainly shallow soils with a heavy clay sub soil, which restricts the root zone and reduces vigour. The soils have poor water holding capacity generally. Overall the site is moderately windy, mainly as a result of the summer gully winds which arrive in the early evening, and this acts to de-vigorate the vines further. Whilst McLaren Vale is noted for consistent climatic conditions, the slightly higher elevation (approximately 140 metres above sea level) of the Penny's Hill vineyard reduces temperature extremes in summer, which means even ripening and higher fruit quality.
The Goss Corner Vineyard 26 acres and Malpas Road Vineyard 37 acres, is situated adjacent to the cellars near Willunga. Goss Corner vineyard is planted with Semillon, Shiraz and Merlot. The Malpas Road Vineyard is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Chardonnay.
The team of Ben Riggs (maker) and Toby Bekkers (viticulturist) isolate different parts of the vineyard that produce grapes with distinctive characteristics. These different parcels are picked, fermented and barrel aged separately to provide the very best blending components to create the Penny's Hill wines.
The Penny's Hill winemakers call their mini appellation approach footprinting the vineyard, and Penny's Hill reserve wines will be sub-branded Footprint
One of the Shiraz Blocks on the Penny's Hill vineyard has shallow soils at the northern end of the vineyard, which produces tannic, deeply coloured wines. The soils become deeper, moving south, where the wine produced tends towards a more elegant and fruit-driven style. We make four and five picks in the Shiraz vineyards over different days, so the winemakers can keep these parcels separate from the vineyard to the winery.
The reds finish their fermentation in barrel. A small proportion of the Chardonnay is barrel fermented and matured in oak, and whilst the Semillon is a fresh fruit driven style, a tiny percentage spends a short time in oak to add texture. Penny's Hill gently guide their wines every step of the way through the winery, to make wines of complexity, texture and interest.
