Taste the eagerly awaited & first release of the House & Road Block Shiraz’s at Old Tatachilla this Saturday from 12pm-4pm
REDS & RIBS Sunday June 10th
Great McLaren Vale Reds, succulent tasty ribs,Moody edgy tunes 2 x sessions get on it shop here
CELLAR DOOR SALE – MARCH 17TH AND 24TH
16/03/2012We are celebrating the end of vintage 2012 with a cellar door sale. The winemakers and cellar door staff have pulled out some old gems, bin ends and back vintage wines to be purchase at prices not-available anywhere else.
The sale will only be held on two days, Saturday the 17th and next Saturday, the 24th. We will have all wines available to taste and purchase from the cellar door. We will also be featuring DJ and winemaker Michael Fragos’ playlist all afternoon and treats from The Retreat made by executive chef Rebecca Stubbs.
If you cannot make it on these days and are interested in purchasing these wines at these prices please send us an email by clicking the link below. However, be aware that wine is subjected to availability but we will let you know and arrange your order over the phone.
There are some great wines here, this is something you do not want to miss.
VINTAGE WRAP 2012
At the end of Tuesday we unplugged our crusher and have granted it 10 months of annual leave. We have just received our final 2012 grape deliveries, which are Sangiovese from our Kangarilla Vineyard and McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon ex Connors Farm.
Discounting a couple of short hot spells, the conditions during the growing season and harvest have been favourably mild and dry. This, in conjunction with the lower cropping levels resulted in an early and condensed vintage. So it’s almost the middle of March and we have safely tucked away in the cellar the whites which are displaying fantastic varietal personality and a range of reds with depth, layers and length.
A massive thank you to our V12 cellar and vineyard crew for their outstanding efforts, as without their enthusiasm and attention to detail great wine is not possible. Now, I am looking forward to sneaking in a couple of Fringe shows and enjoying a normally elusive Easter.
Cheers,
Michael Fragos
Chief Winemaker
VINTAGE 2012 UPDATE – WEEK 3
17/02/2012Well now it really feels like we are getting somewhere. This week saw the remaining fruit for the iL Vescovo white harvested, some great flavours in the Roussanne and Verdelho. These have now been racked and are ready to commence a long slow temperature controlled ferment.
More excitingly today has been the harvest of our home shiraz blocks for the Chosen range. The House and The Road block are right next to each other but produce fruit with very different qualities. We look forward to showing you the new releases exclusively in the cellar door from May 1st.
150 tonnes crushed so far, another 500 odd to go!
Keeping us entertained is a great playlist from chief winemaker and resident Dj Michael Fragos. Check out the progress here and suggest a funky DJ name for him to go into the draw to win two tickets for Reds & Ribs. Enter here by email.
VINTAGE 2012 UPDATE – WEEK 2
07/02/2012Chapel Hill Winery is really coming to life this week. After receiving our first fruit last week, the Gorge Block Chardonnay (see here), we have fruit samples arriving almost hourly for maturity tests, the first ferment of the year is bubbling away and we have been picking verdelho from our Kangarilla vineyard since the wee hours of this morning.
This week will see more verdelho, the hand-picked Savagnin and our first reds, some small parcels of shiraz and tempranillo. The wait for Vintage 2012 is over, it is very much upon us.
The below picture was snapped Monday the 6th February by winemaker Bryn Richards at our Kangarilla vineyard as the team took grape samples, a pair of interested onlookers, tawny frogmouth owls.
WELCOME TO VINTAGE 2012 – GORGE BLOCK CHARDONNAY
01/02/2012On Tuesday the 31st of January we officially kicked off vintage 2012 with the hand picking of the fruit for our Gorge Block chardonnay. Widely regarded as McLaren Vale’s best chardonnay vineyard the north facing Gorge Block benefits immensely from McLaren Vales’ cooler maritime climate where afternoon and evening sea breezes moderate the summer heat. The following videos track the fruit from vineyard to winery and then the finished product.
To celebrate the launch of vintage 2012 we are offering a great special on the Chapel Hill Gorge Block Chardonnay 2009, save $120 per dozen. Click here to go to the specials page on our wine shop to see what else is on offer.
A short clip in our Gorge Block Chardonnay of Bryn introducing new team member Bodhi Edwards on the first day of picking for vintage 2012.
This is the first fruit being delivered to the winery for vintage 2012. Look at all of those chardonnay berries!
Winemaker Bryn Richards takes us through four vintages of Gorge Block Chardonnay – Part One
Winemaker Bryn Richards takes us through four vintages of Gorge Block Chardonnay – Part Two
The Retreat at Chapel Hill
30/01/2012Need to know a bit more about The Retreat at Chapel Hill. Here’s a great article from FOOD WINE SLEEP.
Bodhi Edwards joins Chapel Hill
24/01/2012A big welcome to Bodhi Edwards who is now in his 2nd week as our new CRM Manager. Our new wineclub, spearheaded by Bodhi is coming soon, so make sure you have subscribed as numbers are very limited.
50 THINGS TO DO IN McLAREN VALE #50
20/01/2012End of the week, summer, and 30 degrees today. No other choice but to dive into the beautiful Gulf St Vincent and get ready for the Tour Down Under…see you there, The Chapel Hill Team!