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In the far south western corner of Western Australia climatic circumstances are driven by the almost unchanging temperatures of the oceans that make up more than two thirds of the surface area of the southern hemisphere. The air masses move from the Indian ocean onto the land and it is these conditions that drive fruit maturation at Three Hills. Moderate temperatures during ripening are the key to flavour retention in the grape.

Our vines are grown on an innovative trellis that offers an efficient solar array, and an umbrella for the fruit allowing the passage of dappled light. A split canopy with a high degree of shoot dispersion aids in keeping the fruit dry. The environment is humid, mists are common in the morning and rain can interrupt vintage. There is barely enough warmth to mature late varieties in a cool year. In such circumstances crops must be restrained and photosynthesis encouraged if the fruit is to mature. Irrigation is antagonistic to a quality outcome and is therefore forgone.

Charles Andreas is a blend that can contain the best of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. The blend varies each year with the aim of producing the best wine possible from these classic Bordeaux varieties.

James Halliday: Superb colour; a very different blend to the '04; medium to full-bodied, intense and long palate, the softness of malbec sustained by the other components without losing suppleness; lovely tannin and oak support. Malbec/Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon.
Rating: 95 Drink 2015 Release Price $36 Date Tasted Mar 06

The origins of the name Charles Andreas
The earliest Happs to arrive in Australia were these people:

· Christoph Charles Happ

· Andreas Franz Happ

and their wives:

· Maria Eva Iffland

· Amelia Smidth

· Sarah Ann Stearn

Christoph, Andreas and Maria Eva all came from the German Rheingau. Eltville is a small village on the northern banks of the Rhine. The area is a sea of vines. The Happ family ran a bakery-patisserie-cafe and worked in the vines and the cooperages.

Andreas Happ came from Germany in the Ship 'Australia' in 1850. He was 21 years of age. He married the 14 year old Amelia Smidth en-voyage. She was pregnant. The ship’s captain officiated. I guess that is the way things that things are often done, then as now.

On arrival, Andreas and Sarah went to the Victorian goldfields. Soon after, Sarah disappeared. The goldfields were turbulent and difficult places for a young mother. It is unlikely that Andreas spent much time in Victoria. Many gold seekers had to move on when the alluvial gold ran out. Andreas went to Bathurst in New South Wales. That is where he settled down.

When Andreas Franz arrived in Australia he stated his profession as cooper and vine-dresser. He married a second time. His partner was Sarah Ann Stearn of Cambridgeshire England and together they raised a large family in a place called 'Alloway Bank' in Bathurst.

Christoph Charles Happ, my great grandfather, arrived in Sydney in 1851. He came in the 'Balmoral'.

Maria Eva Iffland came with her parents in 1849 arriving in Australia at the age of 14. Christoph Charles Happ reportedly came to Australia with an ambition to marry her. Perhaps it’s natural for people from the same place to seek each other’s company when they are far from home. Christoph Charles married Maria Eva in Parramattain 1854. Charles, as he became known, would have been 23 years old and Eva 19 years. Charles settled down, first as a pastrycook, his fathers profession, then a grocer. He spent the rest of his life in Newtown, Sydney, dying at the age of 64 in 1890. Maria Eva lived on till 1916 and died in a house called 'Eltville' in Carrington St. Concord, Sydney, at the age of 81. Three of Christoph Charles grandsons in my father's generation were also store-keepers. Back in Eltville the family continued to run 'Kaffe Happ'. However, they lost the only male in the 1939-45 war and the café now belongs to others.