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The Red Hill Estate vineyard and winery have been granted numerous awards for an ultra modern approach to pest and disease management, Tyson Lewis our Vineyard manager is widely recognised for his efforts for his environmentally friendly approach to viticulture. He heads up the technical committee for the Mornington Peninsula Vignerons Association and his close links with our winemakers ensure that we have total control of our production from grape to glass.
The Red Hill Estate home vineyard comprises 24 acres of predominantly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines. The soils are deep, rich, red volcanic loams that require no irrigation while modern trellising systems ensure maximum sun exposure and the long growing season produces ripe fruit for making delicate yet intense wines.
In addition to the home property, Red Hill Estate also leases a number of vineyards and has long term contracts with a number of growers across the Mornington Peninsula. The long term nature of these contracts allows appropriate relationships to be developed with the growers and to provide a great degree of viticultural diversity. The many different latitudes, elevations, aspects and soil types of the Mornington Peninsula allow a broad range of varieties and styles to be grown including some stunning Shiraz being grown on some of the warmer sheltered sites through to fruit grown on the most exposed part of our own vineyard to produce our much lauded sparkling wines. The blending options afforded by drawing fruit from several vineyards also ensure consistency in the styles we’ve already established.
The largest of the managed vineyards is in Vineyard Lane, Tuerong in the warmer northern part of the peninsula. This vineyard has mostly gentle north facing slopes and has proven an excellent and very consistent source of quality fruit while our renowned Mornington Peninsula Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a small protected north facing vineyard of five acres at Mt Martha known as ‘the Briars’.
One of the keys to the success of Red Hill Estate is the cool climate of the Mornington Peninsula which is moderated by its proximity to the sea. The maritime influence from Port Phillip and Western Port Bays prevents the days becoming too warm and the nights from getting too cold. This advantage together with those of the elevation, soil types and aspect of the Mornington Peninsula provide ideal conditions for growing superior quality fruit. |
