Awards and Accolades

2013 Vintage: 94 Points - James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion
"40yo vines, hand-picked and sorted, crushed, destemmed without rollers for whole berries), open-fermented, 5 days cold soak, cultured yeast, 14 days on skin, matured in French oak (20% new). Has the same structure and flavour profile as its '14 sibling, two peas from the same pod. It is fragrant, and all the fruit, oak and tannin components have bonded synergistically together. Exceptional bargain."

From the Winery

The Crabtree Hilltop Vineyard Shiraz is produced from our estate grown fruit in the very heart of the Watervale sub region of the Clare Valley. The handpicked fruit was fermented in small batches and matured in a blend of three and four year old French and American oak barriques for 14 months.

The soils in Watervale are gradational red loam over limestone, slightly alkaline and having good water holding capacity which is considered to contribute greatly to the quality of riesling. There are two major riesling blocks, one slope facing due East with North – South trellising and the other facing the South East with East – West trellising. Both cool vineyards protected from the hot northerly winds of summer. The soils on a separate riesling vineyard are loam on shale (soft slate).

A significant proportion of the shiraz blocks is red loam over sandstone (with a little ironstone). As the vineyard runs down the hill to the west, towards the old windmill block and the Riesling Trail, the soil changes from quite sandy to Bay of Biscay where cabernet and grenache are grown.

The vineyard is essentially dry grown with limited water applied at the end of the growing season. Supplementary irrigation is via drippers. The dam on the property in conjunction with a bore (80 mtrs) supplies the supplementary water when required. No Murray River water is used.