Our vineyard, Koombahla, sits in the hills above Whitfield in the upper King Valley at elevations between 250m and 350m above sea level. Nestled under the Victorian Alps we get snow on the surrounding hills each year. During the summer, the breezes come down from the mountains keeping the nights cool and encouraging the vines to produce fruit with intense flavours and colour.
The vineyard is named after a magnificent brittle gum that stands at the top of the property overlooking the vineyard. This tree is listed as a tree of significance with the National Trust.
Aligoté is a variety we’re particularly excited about both in the vineyard and in the winery. Originally from Burgundy, it was often blended with Chardonnay but was not really held in high regard very widely for some time. Fortunately, it has been championed by a number of producers in Burgundy who are focusing on making it is as a single variety wine.
We grafted a small section of our vineyard to Aligoté in 2015 after getting the bud wood from Hickinbotham of Dromana, the first vineyard to plant Aligoté in Australia back in 1985.
Our first vintage in the winery was 2017, fermented and aged entirely in old French barriques. Since then we have played with some larger format oak and ceramic egg fermentation and ageing vessels. We love seeing the orchard fruits shine through, particularly pear and sometimes a little nashi.
Currently, apart from the grapes from Dromana, all Victorian Aligotés come from our vineyard. We love tasting the different approach from each winemaker while still seeing a common thread coming through from the vineyard.
It is grown by only a handful of vineyards in Australia - when we grafted we became the 3rd. We know of a few more recent plantings from Tassie to the Bellarine and are excited to see more people grow and make Aligoté in Australia.
