WINE ... with David Bray
"I believe we produce the absolute best red wines in NSW and nothing else comes close and we are right on the heels of the iconic SA regions."
There speaks Brian Mullany, dedicated and very successful grapegrower. His fruit is made into Grove Estate wines, among other well respected labels. The Flanders, Kirkwood and Mullany families established the Grove Estate vineyard in 1989. Vines were originally planted on the property back in 1886. Croatian settlers brought with them bundles of vine cuttings.
Some of the vines survive at Grove Estate today. Plantings since 1989 include cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, merlot, zinfandel, barbera, sangiovese, petit verdot, chardonnay, semillon and nebbiolo and since 1997 Grove Estate has produced a range of premium wines under its own label.
Mr Mullany has written to me a long and interesting epistle. Encouraged by the example of better (no, make that better-known) columnists, I will let you read some of his heartfelt words: “You may like to introduce the winemakers who produce our wines and describe the unique characteristics of the Hilltops Region and the great pride we have here in growing a sustainable crop simply using the rain that falls on the vineyard, the air and the air temperature that blows around the vines and the soil that holds them in place and delivers the minerals and moisture that allows them to live according to the prevailing climate at the time.
“Grove Estate vineyard is around 4km from Young out the Murringo Road. We are around 100km northwest of Murrumbateman. Murrumbateman is the main grape growing area in the Canberra GIC and there are some handy winemakers. Two of them take our grapes, ferment them and hopefully without doing too much more bottle them as unique Hilltops wines.
“We are very fortunate to have Richard Parker at Long Rail Gully making our cabernet sauvignon and other Italian varietals and Tim Kirk at Clonakilla making our shiraz. Tim is very fortunate to receive our shiraz grapes as part of his parcel for the Clonakilla Hilltops shiraz as I am sure he would agree.
“I planted the original plantings on Grove Estate on October 7, 1989. I can remember this day as it was my wedding day _ obviously a very exciting day for me and one on which some things flourished and some things did not. Suffice to say that God had his way of explaining to me what was more important and that I should try again the following spring when I had my mind more on the job of nurturing the soil rather than the body.
“We now have a beautiful vineyard and three wonderful children. all the vines I planted in 1989 are happy and still alive today. We planted additional vineyard in 1992, 94 and 1998 and continue to replant and change some varieties nearly every year. Jay Tulloch turned up in the guise of Southcorp in 1994 to buy our first crop of cabernet and now in the guise of Jay Tulloch still buys some of our cabernet to this day.
“We are not on any major or for that matter minor river system in Young. We are right at the top of the divide between the rain water running towards the Murrumbidgee and the Lachlan Rivers and both of these at their closest points are around 70km from us. Our vines’ water resources are those that fall directly within the area that they can
“Young is very cold in winter, quite warm to hot in summer and has a magnificent autumn and spring. Typically the rainfall is around 620mm per year and this rain falls throughout the year with the driest months been February and March. This is ideal as February and March fall in with our harvesting period which we need to be dry with cool nights.
“Our cropping levels have been very low for the past five to ten years. Our vines have been producing around 4 tonnes per hectare with yields as low as 2 tonnes per hectare some years. To give you an idea of just how low this is a typical Riverland vineyard would aim to produce between 15 and 20 tonne per hectare and even the cool climate vineyards in the Orange area would aim to produce at least 8 tonnes per hectare.
“You will never see large plantings of vineyards in the Hilltops area due to the reasons I have mentioned above. However you will and already can see extraordinary and beautiful wines from this area. I do not know if this area will ever become a tourist attraction like other wine regions and I don’t know if I want that to happen.
“It is very calm here today the cellar door has been shut for a few weeks and I think I like that, the orders come in over the email and a lot of small and large independents have helped us move all the stock we have. “Wines from the Hilltops have been winning many awards, many more awards than a small region like ours probably should win and for lots of different varieties and styles. This makes it difficult for our region to be earmarked for a particular style. I can’t understand why this matters. Can’t we simply be earmarked as a great grape growing region?.”
As well as the words, Brian sent some wines and notes on them:
Grove Estate Sommita nebbiolo 2008. Sommita is Italian for Hilltops which reflects the grape varieties’ origins in the Piedmont region … the 2008 shows lovely floral notes and a mix of dark berry fruit flavours and savoury spice with balanced tannins . (Likely price around $45).
Grove Estate The Italian sangiovese barbera 2008. The dominant savoury flavours of the sangiovese are well balanced with the richer sweeter fruit style of the barbera. ($20).
The Cellar Block shiraz viognier 2007, a medium to full bodied red with the substance to age well. ($38)
Well worth a look, all of them.
