Hugh Hamilton Wines

In '14, 5th-generation family member Hugh Hamilton handed over the reins to daughter Mary. The business embraces both mainstream and alternative varieties, its 85+yo shiraz and 65+yo cabernet sauvignon at its Blewitt Springs vineyard providing the ability to develop the Black Blood range. There have been changes: in the way the vines are trellised, picking and fermenting in small open fermenters, using gravity for wine movements and maturation in high-quality French oak. The Tonnellerie trio of wines, made from the same shiraz fruit, are raised in oak from different French cooperages: Ermitage, Vicard and François Frères. The cellar door is lined with the original jarrah from Vat 15 of the historic Hamilton’s Ewell winery, the largest wooden vat ever built in the Southern Hemisphere. Exports to the UK, the US, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, South Korea, Singapore and Japan. -JAMES HALLIDAY