A Profile

                                                                                                              Happs in Dunsborough has been a popular Western Australian destination since 1978. Visitors are drawn to our mud brick buildings that surround the much photographed garden courtyard, the pottery, the rambling structures of our cellar door and winery, the spreading lawns and the occasional musical event. Our photographic display and museum of older wines is also of interest. However, with all of this we maintain a range of some twenty five to thirty wines freely available for tasting on a daily basis. Apart from that, we think ourselves friendly and unpretentious.... a little rustic, a little earthy perhaps, but happily so.

Our fruit is produced in two vineyards. We established 6 hectares in Dunsborough in 1978 and planted a further 30 hectares at our Karridale property THREE HILLS from 1994. Thirty one grape varieties are cultivated. Apart from growing the fruit we perform all stages of the winemaking, bottling and packaging. We have a do it yourself attitude. Our viticultural practices are sensibly organic and minimalist. We favour dry grown vines, low yields and trellises that put the leaves and fruit in the sun for the flavour advantages that ensue. This means that we continue to hand pick our fruit and prune to rods despite the expense. Despite the labour intensive methods we are very efficient, our staff committed, and our wines provide excellent value for money.

When we selected the Three Hills property to plant to vines, it was on the basis of fifteen years experience in the industry and a determination to create the finest wines that the district is capable of. Karridale, on the south coast experiences more cloud cover, brisk southerlies, cooler temperatures during summer and throughout the all important ripening period. The Three Hills label is reserved for the best wines from this single estate. The blend 'Charles Andreas' and the varietals, Merlot and Shiraz have gained great recognition in a very short time, especially overseas. The Grenache, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Nebbiolo are reserved for the curiosity and pleasure of our cellar door and mail order customers. The first white wines of the range, a varietal Viognier and our the Semillon / Sauvignon blend ‘Eva Maria’ will be released in early 2006.

We aim for wines that are soft and long in flavour, to enhance food and to give great pleasure in the drinking. These are hand crafted wines using the most advantageous techniques to conserve the flavour that we achieve in the vineyard. Hand picked fruit is chilled prior to crushing and the best French Oak selected for fermentation and maturation. However, it is not technique or choice of oak that makes the difference but the character of the fruit. That character is due to the circumstances in which the vine grows together with a consciousness that leaves need plenty of sunshine and that the fruit must be thoroughly mature at harvest. To ensure that the fruit does mature properly the vine must be managed to ensure that growth ceases early, that crops are within the capacity of the vine to mature and that the leaves, shoots and the fruit mature simultaneously. Green leaves are associated with green wines. Green leaves at harvest are associated with irrigation, overgenerous soil environments and excessive fertilizer....good for farming but poor from the viewpoint of the farmer-winemaker. There is great advantage in being in touch with the whole process.

Our wines are made to last the distance. Longevity in wine relates to depth and breadth of flavour. It gives us pleasure to hear a customer say how much he has enjoyed a bottle that he has been saving for many years.

The products that you will find at cellar door include a full range of varietals and also the sweet wines 'Sweet Rosie Jayne', 'Muscat a Pink', 'Very Special Old Muscat', ' Late Picked Semillon ', 'Pale Gold' and 'Fortis', our vintage Port style. The unique styles we call Fuchsia, Tintanello, Marrimee and Semillon Verdelho are widely distributed. These names relate to our determination to forge a Western Australian identity, and a Happs identity that stands alone in the world of wine.

Our PF Red and PF White are flavoursome and enjoyable wines that contain no sulphur dioxide, a triumph of care and attention to detail and a great boon to those like me who have developed sensitivity to this substance.

Erl Happ December 2005