Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

Serve with lemon and thyme roasted chicken accompanied by roasted Dutch cream potatoes.

The lead up to vintage was warm and mild; with rain late in 2013 setting the vines up well for the harvest ahead. In the new year there was a series of warm-weather events and about of unseasonably heavy rain followed. However, the weather quickly returned to much milder, dry conditions for the remainder, allowing the vines to recover and the fruit to fully ripen with harvest occurring one or two weeks earlier than usual. The resulting wines show a concentration of flavour and balanced natural acidity.

The juice was filled to a combination of new, one and two-year-old French oak barriques, with fermentation being carried out by indigenous yeasts, which are naturally present on the grape berries. Barrels were regularly stirred over a ten-month period in order to build texture and complexity. Individual barrels were then carefully selected for the final blend which remained in oak for a further five months to provide integration of the final wine.

Celebrating the synergy of region and variety and a no-compromise attitude towards this wine, grapes were selectively handpicked and chilled in our cold rooms before whole bunch pressing.

Over five generations members of the Hill-Smith family have been pioneers in locating exceptional vineyard sites that maximise the personality of their wines. Since the wine was released in 1980 Hill-Smith Estate Sauvignon Blanc has been recognized as one of Australia’s finest Sauvignon Blancs. Our Chardonnays from the Adelaide Hills and Eden Valley are contemporary wines crafted from fruit cultivated in premium Chardonnay growing regions. These wines honour the contribution that Wyndham Hill-Smith OBE (1909 - 1989) made to wine sport and life in Australia. A talented amateur artist Wyndham painted the front label landscape scenes on all three wines. Well known as a cricketer Wyndham Hill-Smith both shared the crease with Bradman and faced Larwood at his peak. He was a keen thoroughbred owner with more than 500 race wins and well recognised as a generous host and charming raconteur. Importantly Wyndham oversaw in the 1960s and ’70s the innovative return of viticulture from the floor of the Barossa Valley to the cooler climes of the high altitude Barossa ranges known as Eden Valley. In these conditions finesse elegance and understated power replace the robust and earthy style of the lower altitudes.