Adelaide Hills has only risen to prominence relatively recently

Adelaide Hills has only risen to prominence relatively recently
Shutterstock

Adelaide Hills: land of cool contrasts

Adelaide Hills set out its stall as “South Australia’s premier cool climate region” in a seminar and tasting dedicated to the country’s flagship white grape, Chardonnay.

Panel chair Rose Murray Brown MW made this claim for the South Australian region, which – despite its relatively small size – has emerged as a major hub for top quality wine over the last 40 years.

Adelaide Hills’ cool climate reputation is particularly striking given its location, sandwiched between the distinctly warm Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Among the key factors enabling this region to create such different wine styles from its neighbours, Murray Brown highlighted Barossa’s average 430mm annual rainfall compared to around 750mm in Adelaide Hills.

Then there’s the altitude: while Barossa’s vineyards lie within a range of 112-596m above sea level, Adelaide Hills vineyards start at 300m, rising to 714m. That doesn’t just ensure daytimes are notably cooler than much of Barossa, but has a particularly important effect on night-time temperatures. These can drop sharply even in summer, allowing grapes to retain vital acidity and freshness. “Elevation is really key,” noted Murray Brown.

Cool climate may be something of a buzzword today, but it also helps to explain why Adelaide Hills has only risen to prominence relatively recently. Although vines were first planted here back in 1840, the challenges associated with cool climate viticulture saw this nascent wine industry gradually fizzle out in favour of fruit trees and sheep farming.

It was reborn in the 1970s thanks to pioneers such as Brian Croser, Tim Knappstein and the Henschke family, all of whom are still active in the region today alongside a younger generation of winemakers, many of whom have kept the region dynamic with an experimental outlook and embrace of movements such as natural wine. Having the city of Adelaide on your doorstep doesn’t hurt either. “There are lots of people pushing the boundaries,” summed up Tim Pelquest-Hund, chief winemaker at Orlando Wines. “It’s a really exciting region.”

View of Adelaide, Australia.
Shutterstock
View of Adelaide, Australia.

Part of that excitement lies in the fact that there’s so much more to Adelaide Hills than Chardonnay. It may be Australia’s most widely planted grape variety, but here Chardonnay volumes are eclipsed by Sauvignon Blanc. While Chardonnay still accounts for roughly a quarter of the region’s crush, a good proportion of this goes into another cool climate specialism: sparkling wine.

When it comes to the character of still Chardonnay from Adelaide Hills, this relatively small region – at 3,957 hectares it is roughly a third of the size of Barossa – manages to span an excitingly broad stylistic spectrum. That variation is thanks not only to the range of altitude and orientation, but also clonal selection and, inevitably, different approaches in the cellar.

“The wines of the Piccadilly Valley tend to have a lot more fruit purity and that real drive of linear acidity,” outlined Liam van Pelt of Ashton Hills Vineyards on the subject of sub-regional variation. “Whereas the wines of Lenswood tend to get a lot more power and fruit weight and still have that lovely drive of natural acidity as well.”

A happy balance

On the winemaking front, Adelaide Hills Chardonnay has been through a similar pendulum swing to the rest of Australia, but there’s a sense it has now found a happy balance and the right tools with which to achieve this. “In the 1980s and 90s everything was big,” acknowledged Pelquest-Hund. He described the late 1990s introduction of clones better suited to cool climate, still wine production as “a real game changer.”

For the producers, Adelaide Hills Chardonnay today is characterised by its ability to pack contrasting elements into a single wine. “We’ve got wines that both have this real scintillating purity and acidity but there’s also so much meat on the bone,” outlined Pelquest-Hund. “It’s giving you Chardonnays that are just so sumptuous, you really want to sink your teeth into them.”

Contrasts and a growing reputation

The seminar offered an inspiring snapshot of these contrasts, both within individual wines and between different producers’ styles. The restrained precision of Pike & Joyce Sirocco Chardonnay stood out alongside the more open, richer style of Orlando Lyndale Chardonnay.

This was also an opportunity to appreciate the significant contribution to the region’s reputation that has already been made by newer names such as Sidewood Estate, founded in 2004. “It’s like a really ripe Chablis,” suggested Murray Brown of the producer’s Estate Chardonnay. “And price-wise it’s really on the money.”

While many Adelaide Hills Chardonnays share the upfront appeal displayed by other Australian expressions, more than a few producers have longer term ambitions for their bottles. “This is a wine we build to cellar,” stressed Turon White, chief winemaker at The Lane, as he poured the estate’s top tier Heritage Chardonnay. His picking and vinification decisions are all geared towards creating “a really tightly coiled spring”, poised to unfurl over the next 10 to 15 years.

That longer term mindset is shared by the team at Karrawatta, who hold back the small volumes – around 2,700 bottles per vintage – of their opulent yet taut and textured “Anth’s Garden” Chardonnay for several years before release. As a result the 2018 represents their current vintage, but an early taste of the 2021 suggests it will be worth the wait.

The perfect moment to explore

Indeed, 2021 seems to have been a year when everything went right in this corner of Australia. Plenty of winter rainfall was followed by a relatively frost-free spring, which allowed even fruit formation and a generous yield. As harvest began, an unbroken run of warm days and cool nights allowed picking teams to bring in a steady stream of pristine fruit.

After low yields in 2019 and the distressing bushfires that affected many producers here in 2020, Pelquest-Hund described 2021 as “the vintage we really needed.” With many of these wines now out in the market, it’s a perfect moment for anyone looking to explore Adelaide Hills Chardonnay to dive in.

Gabriel Stone
Gabriel Stone
Author
Find out more
Wine Inspiration
3 wines for your Easter feast
With the privations of Lent coming to an end, it’s time to dial up the festivities with some...
By Ben Colvill