Heathcote wine – the misconceptions
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| Heathcote wine region |
What was interesting about the tasting (and the dinner afterwards) though was not so much the wines, but the people and the politics behind them.
Anyway, one particular highlight was that of the Greenstone Vineyard wines. A joint venture between Europeans Alberto Antonini and David Gleave MW with Mark Walpole on the ground in Australia. The Greenstone operation is focused on Sangiovese (did you know that Heathcote and Chianti have a very similar climate?), Shiraz, Tempranillo and Monastrell (Mourvedre), producing wines that taste immediately different to most any other Heathcote reds.
Digging deeper and it’s actually of little surprise that the wines are as good as they are: the Sangiovese vines are all the (superior) Brunello clone; the Shiraz clones also carefully chosen; the vineyard too is planted east-west (to combat sunburn) and at a density of 4,500 vines/hectare (one of the highest in Heathcote).
But it doesn’t stop there, for the wines themselves are made by none other than Mornington demigod Sandro Mosele. Fitting then that they all pack some serious intensity at very modest alcohols (the Shiraz sits at just 13.5% alc/vol).
In my opinion, despite the fact hat the operation is very young (first planted in 03) and the prices aren’t low, the quality of the Greenstone wines is right up there with the very best in the region. A big recommendation from me.
On a final positive note, it was reassuring to observe that there seemed to be generally few hot (alcohol heat) wines in this lineup, further emphasising just how wrong my ‘big Shiraz + big alcohol = Heathcote’ generalisation really is. Great to see.
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