Granite Hillls


— About —

THE WINERY

This family owned vineyard and winery is situated on the North Eastern aspect of the Macedon Ranges. Trail blazers of cool climate viticulture, Granite Hills is perched atop the spectacular boulder strewn hills of the Great Dividing Range at an altitude of 550 meters. Established in 1970 by fourth generation farmers Gordon and Heather Knight, this 12 hectare vineyard planted to a wide range of varietals including Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Gamay is now run by their son Llew Knight and wife Andrea. Llew’s father Gordon began his life in Macedon as a wool farmer but found it tough to rely purely on wool to support his family. Wine became a great passion of Gordon and his son Llew as they now have 50+ year old vineyards to work with. To put their history into perspective, Granite Hills predates even iconic producers like Bindi by over 10 years.

The Granite Hills plantings are the oldest in the Macedon Ranges region; their roots now well down into the old granitic sandy loam soils. It’s the good drainage and low fertility attributes of the soil at Granite Hills which is so beneficial to the balance of the vine, keeping the yields low and the quality of the grapes high. This is reinforced by the nature of the vineyard being very exposed to the prevailing winds – a factor which tends to lower humidity and therefore disease pressure as well as naturally limiting yields. Cabernet, Riesling and Shiraz were the initial plantings with the Cabernet and Riesling vines being the oldest in the region. As time went on Llew began to develop his theory that his perch in Macedon was quite similar to Alsace. With the incredible consistency of his Riesling he began to lean into his theory further and planted Gruner Veltliner and Pinot Blanc. Both known to Alsace and to grow well in Granite heavy soil.

The ripening season at Granite Hills is long due to the Southern latitude and altitude. This has the beneficial effect of allowing fruit characteristics to develop whilst still retaining good natural acidity. Vintage can continue into June for some varieties in the most marginal years. Hand pruning followed by close attention to canopy management over the growing season maximizes sunlight interception and promotes more even bunch development and ripening. At harvest selective hand picking supports the philosophy that only the best grapes continue to the winery. This careful management of the vines and moderation of grape yields, produce deceptively powerful and definitive varietal characters.

 

THE VINEYARD

An important element of Granite Hills is the variety of wine they produce at such a high level. The region has of course also become synonymous with Pinot and Chardonnay. The plantations of both date back some of the oldest in the region and are of similar vine age to Curley Flat, whom Llew worked with in their early days. While Granite Hills has won over 37 trophies for Riesling they have become a very recognised producer for both Pinot and Chardonnay as well. Like Llew’s philosophy around his Alsacian whites he has a very hands off, no acid approach to Pinot and Chardonnay as well. Macedon is actually consistently cooler than many of Tasmania regions and as a result he has adjusted accordingly to the very cool years their vineyards go through. His experience has shown him to let the fruit do the talking. While he has experienced with whole bunch in his Pinot, he wants his fruit to be at the forefront of the conversation.

While being one of the higher sites in Macedon, it also has a broad range of aspects which allow Llew to work with an extensive range of varieties. The cooler sites sit in the North/NW where the Pinot and Cabernet lies, whereas the warmer sites producer the best Riesling, Gruner Veltliner and Chardonnay in the South. Their property is quite shielded from the winds that higher altitude Macedon wines can experience. This is due to there angle they sit of the Great Dividing Range. Their property sites on the North Western side and drops down from 600m right down to 480 metres. The North/NW sites are even more wind shielded too, where he has planted the more delicate varieties away from the harsh wines. To give some perspective, their site is only around 20 minutes away from Heathcote where it drops in altitude significantly. It is an idyllic location as it really utilises the best aspects of Macedon without the brutal cold that the southern sites can see as well as gaining the warmer elements of the North/NW end of the ranges.