History
The property was purchased in 1989 with the aim of producing premium cool climate wine grapes, on its volcanic red soils situated at 530m above sea level. The Grove Estate property already has had a long history of involvement with the wine and grape growing industry in the Hilltops Region as vines were originally planted on the property back in 1886.
Since 1989, over 40 hectares of vines have been planted including the varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot, Zinfandel, Barbera, Sangiovese, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay, Semillon & Nebbiolo.
In 1997 the partners of ‘Grove Estate’ decided to keep a small parcel of fruit and produce a range of premium wines under their own label. The first wine released was a 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon and now a full range of reds and whites exist. Included in these are an Italian style Zinfandel, a Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Semillon, Nebbiolo and various other Italian Varietals and blends. Some of these are available in 375ml or half size bottles.
Over the years our winemaking team has developed and some changes have occurred. Since the 2003 vintage Tim Kirk of Clonakilla has made our Shiraz and he also oversees all the other wines that are made with great care at Long Rail Gully by Richard Parker.
When Tim came on board and started offering his help a much stronger commitment to wines that portrayed the feel of the cool climate and deep red soils of the Hilltops area were strived for. We have been able to obtain this by purchasing only the best French wine barrels with open fermentation tanks for the red wines and barrel fermentation for whites except Semillon which still is able to obtain great acidity and fruitfulness at a young age.
In the vineyard new practices to occur include more foliage wires, fruit and or spur thinning and drought induced very low tonnages. Minimal intervention as far as pests and diseases occur so we are able to obstesibly only apply chemicals at very low industry standard.
In the James Halliday Book “Wine companion 2007” we obtained a five star rating
The 2004 “The Cellar Block” Shiraz won two trophies in 2006.
Trophy ‘Best Red Wine’ – 2006 Sydney International Wine Competition
Trophy ‘Best Medium Bodied Red’ – 2006 Sydney International Wine Competition
We were very happy with these achievements and keen to repeat them
One of the original buildings on the property has now been transformed into a cellar door outlet, which offers wine tastings and sales.
Due to the high demand of Grove Estate Wines, they are now not only available at cellar door or mail order, but through restaurants, hotels & liquor outlets throughout the world.
