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Chris Hill turns “Full Circle” with a return to the winemaking styles and techniques from the early 1980’s. Mourvèdre was popular favourite for blending in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. It’s late ripening and produces wonderful spicy wines with great aging potential.
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Chris Hill turns “Full Circle” with a return to the winemaking styles and techniques from the early 1980’s. Mourvèdre was popular favourite for blending in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. It’s late ripening and produces wonderful spicy wines with great aging potential.
Colour
Mid cherry red with crimson and brick hues
Aroma
The bouquet carries the distinctive hallmark of the variety, when youthful it’s lively and spicy with a lovely perfume of lavender and violets. As it matures and develops the aroma picks up leather, forest floor and pungent earthy mushrooms and truffle.
Palate
Red berries and rhubarb show on entry with cloves and star anise giving a spicy lift before cured meats, leather and tobacco emerge on the finish. There are layers of Asian marinade and soy with rosemary and cracked pepper. Old oak hogsheads have been used for maturation so there is no oak flavour but soft oxidation giving a smooth tannin structure and lean dry finish
Food Matching
The complex spicy flavours of this wine are ideal with Peking Duck, roast goose or crispy fried poultry served with Hoisin or XO sauce and leafy greens.
Cellaring Potential
Shiraz provides a rich middle palate fullness which will soften with time and the rugged tannin backbone of Mourvedre will provide structure and length for up to ten years. With over 4 years maturation on release it is well integrated and balanced and will continue to mature developing more leather and game flavours.
During vintage 2008, which was extremely hot, I was inspired to turn “Full Circle” and rediscover some of the techniques and styles from my earliest experiences of winemaking in the Barossa. Fruit was coming into the winery extremely ripe with high sugar levels and quite warm which lead to quick fermentation with wild yeast and low colour extraction. The resulting wines have lighter body weight but significantly more texture and complexity. Using older barrels has allowed the wines to integrate slowly and build a concentrated structure for longevity.
The wines have had extended barrel maturation and although minimal filtration has been applied they will only develop a very fine sediment in bottle. They can comfortably age for many years in cellar. I hope you enjoy the journey back Full Circle with my selection of traditional Australian styles.
My first winemaking experience was harvesting grapes in the Barossa Valley during vintage 1981. Long hot days were spent hand picking bunches of sweet, sticky Riesling, Shiraz, Cabernet, Grenache and a host of other nearly forgotten varieties. At the end of each day after the last bins were tipped into the crusher, we’d meet at the weighbridge with Peter Lehmann for a bottomless glass of robust Shiraz and an inspired conversation about the new wines and vintage developments.
After three decades my day still ends with a nice glass or two of Shiraz or maybe Chardonnay but a lot has changed over that time. From a humble cellar hand plunging skins in open concrete fermenters during the 1980’s, to debating the appropriate cooperage for Hunter Shiraz with Len Evans in the 1990’s to the corporate boardrooms of giant multinationals in the 2000’s, I’m now back to making wine as an independent negociant.
Based in the heart of McLaren Vale, I’m surrounded by wonderful old vineyards and dozens of modern wineries run by skilled and talented winemakers. The joy of being a negociant winemaker is the flexibility to be able to source grapes and make wine anywhere throughout Australia. The benefit is an unlimited resource of varieties, regions, styles and skills to craft individual batches of unique wines without constraints.
My goal is to create genuine, honest wines that showcase flavour, vitality and life. Good wine should be accessible to all and be enjoyed as part of a healthy, active lifestyle with fine food, close friends and plenty of fun. I have many favourites but I believe variety is the spice of life and I enjoy discovering new flavours and stretching the boundaries of traditional winemaking.
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