Winemaker Notes
Forest Hill Vineyard is not only the oldest cool climate Vineyard in Western Australia, but also planted on one of the Mt Barker regions first farms. Settled in the 1840’s, Highbury Fields is a site of historical agricultural significance in the Great Southern, which over the past century has been farmed for apples, dairy, grains, lamb and wool.Purchased over 15 years ago, the Highbury Fields property is today producing exceptional fruit with the dry-grown vineyards occupying the best soils on this historic property.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This excellent value Shiraz from Western Australia’s Great Southern region doesn’t convey its cool climate origins at first sniff. But give it time in glass or decanter and those initially ripe, primary strawberries and blueberry aromas will morph into more heady floral and spice tones: violets, ground pepper, olives. There’s a velvety plushness in the mouth but linearity and focus thanks to a nicely textured grip of spicy savory tannins. Still in its youth, those primary fruits will gain complexity should this be given another few years in bottle.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Occupying the tip of Western Australia’s spectacular southern coastline is a wine region of impressive natural diversity called the Great Southern. Here cool climate loving varieties like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grow in vineyards hugging its jagged coastlines.
Farther inland, among Great Southern's rolling hills and flatlands, a more pronounced temperature shift between day and night is perfect for the the production of exciting Riesling wines as well as impressive Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.