The Vine Varieties

The tables on the 'Our Vineyards' page list all of the grape varieties we grow. It might appear that, with so many, we lack a central tendency. In truth our attitude is that the table wine industry is very young in Australia. Producers have slavishly followed a French lead and until the recent agreement with the EEC, often borrowed European regional ascriptions in naming their wines.

There are at least 6000 grape varieties. There are countries with similarly warm climates to Australia, where over many centuries of trial and error, many of the potentially useful varieties have been discovered: Principally, these countries border the Mediterranean, of which many have been locked up behind the Iron Curtain until quite recently. This represents an untapped realm of exploration for Australian wine.

Some varieties we recommend some we don't. This is not so much a case of there being winners and duds per se, but rather situation where the local circumstances do not suit some varieties, which could be fabulous if planted elsewhere. The critical questions are:

• Will it ripen regularly?
• Will the thermal conditions under which it ripens enable the berry to retain it's best flavours?

For a full account of how to judge these qualities see our 'climatic research' page.

Three Hills Sangiovese 2009

Three Hills Nebbiolo 2009 - SOLD OUT

Three Hills Petit Verdot 2007

Three Hills Grenache 2006

Three Hills Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2009