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| Bleasdale are Australia's second oldest family owned winery, established 1850 by English migrant Frank Potts. Potts built much of Adelaide's early colonial works before settling down to his homestead at Langhorne Creek. Bleasdale» |
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| Serafino Maglieri came to McLaren Vale in 1968 and devoted his life to wine. From picking to pruning to cellarhand, he worked his way up to plant his own vines and build his first winery. Serafino» |
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| Yealands Seaview Vineyard is exposed to some of the toughest growing conditions in Marlborough, high sunshine and billowing winds wind, cool nights and low rainfalls for a smaller, thicker skinned Pinot Gris of exciting intensity. Fruit from the relatively flat, coastal L6M block, provides a pure mineral elegance to the structural backbone. Yealands Estate» |
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| There are two superb high altitude sites in Carey Gully and Piccadilly Valley, which yield an extraordinary quality of Sauvignon Blanc. Knappstein take the top cut of each harvest, crushing the fruit for a long cool vinification, treating a batch to the added richness of oak barrel ferments for texture, complexity and weight. Riposte» |
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| The top shelf in toothsome and dulcetly fragrant, fruit forward frizzante wines, fashioned for those who know what they like and take their Moscato seriously. Brown Brothers make the best Moscato in the land, their dedicated Muscat vineyards have been trained to deliver harvests of the most luscious fruit. Brown Brothers» |
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| A vineyard of some historical import, Bernoota is the original block, planted to the Follett family homestead along the banks of River Bremer, two decades before federation. A splendid construct of Langhorne Creek Shiraz Cabernet, selected from old vines around the distinguished Follett family vineyard, perennially released to resounding accolades. Lake Breeze» |
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| Enthused by a consuming desire to make great wine, Andrew Nugent honed his craft as viticulturalist and winemaker amongst the vines of McLaren Vale before returning to the Adelaide Hills, where he established his very own wineworks at Woodside. Hand crafted from fruit grown to mineral rich soils above the historic Bird in Hand gold mine, a pure Pinot Noir with superb effervescence, dominated by red berry characters, adorned by a lift of stonefruits and floral.. Bird In Hand» |
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| Take a lesson from the well versed Rosé rectors on the Cotes du Rhône and you'll be adding a measure of the arcadian Cinsault grape into your Grenache ferments, conceiving an animate and engaging ochre pink wine. There's a real affinity between the balmy maritime climes of McLaren Vale and the swarthy, effusive varietals that hail from the French south. Bondar» |
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| The seemingly countless, memorable vintages of Delatite have claimed a litany of trophies, accolades and rave reviews throughout the world of wine. Her first vines were planted in 1968 on a picturesque rise overlooking the vistas of Mt Buller. Delatite» |
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| Earnscleugh Valley was the site of a gold rush in the 1860s, the industrious miners dug a watercourse through the valley which today serves to nourish the world's southernmost appellation of Pinot Noir. The Last Chance is a small scenic terrace, planted to a special Burgundy clone of Pinot Noir which yields a magnificently structured, generously proportioned wine. Two Paddocks» |
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| Pete Yealands is a natural viticulturalist, happiest at work on the land, he has established many of Marlborough's most splendid vineyards. Single site Awatere Pinot Noir from an exposed terrace on the upper ridge of Seaview Vineyard, planted to some marvelous Dijon clones. Yealands Estate» |
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| The first and final word in world class Barossa Cabernet, aged in a luxurious selection of completely new French oak hogsheads. The Ashmead block is so low yielding that it was almost gutted and re established to more productive plantings. Elderton» |
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Terra Felix
About Terra Felix - the Winery
Terra Felix
Terra Felix was originally launched as the second label to the highly respected Tallarook Wines and grew to become a premium winemaking estate
Using excess grapes from Tallarook and surrounding vineyards, Terra Felix immediately caught the attention of wine reviewers. The initial vintages concentrated on commercial varieties such as Shiraz, Merlot Cabernet and Chardonnay. The problem facing the fledging brand was that there were plenty of these wines available on the market and distribution was a challenge. It was decided that Terra Felix should reposition its offering and concentrate largely on using Northern Rhone grape varieties. And why not? The growing conditions, soil and climate around Tallarook bear an uncanny resemblance to Northern Rhone.
The Goulburn region has shown a natural affinity with the Northern Rhône varieties. In January 2003, the region was awarded its own GI (Geographical Indicator) recognition. Shiraz, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier, all flourish here, not surprising considering the uncanny similarities between the two regions. Steep granite slopes falling away to alluvial valley floors; a continental climate with comparable sun hours, rainfall and heat summations.
The Shiraz therefore became a Shiraz Viognier, the Merlot Cabernet was replaced with a Mourvedre; a Marsanne Roussanne was introduced, and only the Chardonnay remained from the initial offering. Those who know the Tallarook Chardonnay will understand why Chardonnay survived. Simply the fruit was too good to pass over. With the release of the new varieties in 2004, Terra Felix started to gain momentum in its growth.
Tallarook acquired a contract winery in the Yarra Valley called Master Winemakers. Winemaker Terry Barrett came with an impressive pedigree, most recently he had been chief at Brown Brothers. There his role required him to run the entire Operating Division which included internal and external grape supply, winemaking, and packaging. He was responsible for wine that had won over 50 trophies and 200 gold medals at national and international wine shows. He led innovation at Brown Brothers with the introduction of Italian and Spanish grape varieties as well as the flagship Patricia Range of wines.
By the end of 2005 Terra Felix was emerging as a strong business in its own right. It was decided that the Board of Terra Felix would split and three members would buy out the initial owner. A close relationship was maintained with Tallarook through grape supply and wine making at Master Winemakers. Winemakers Terry Barrett and Trina Smith continued their passion to make Terra Felix a highly recognised brand. Their efforts culminated in the 2005 Terra Felix Shiraz Viognier being awarded Wine of the Year by the Penguin Good Australian Wine guide. Terra Felix was being taken seriously indeed.
At the behest of winemaker Terry Barrett, vinification moved to Mitchelton where Terry could make Terra Felix utilising a much more sophisticated infrastructure than he had at his disposal. He also was keen to lock in supply of very high quality fruit. This required finding vineyards that were prepared to partner Terra Felix in their plans to grow the brand in Australia and at the export market. Today, the fruit for Terra Felix is grown by a number of small family owned vineyards from around the region of the Upper Goulburn, an area which is becoming renowned internationally as source of some of Australia's finest wines.
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