1998 Knight Granite Hills Shiraz Winery: Knight Granite Hills Vintage: 1998 Region: Macedon Ranges Bottle Size: 750ml Variety: Shiraz Price: $55.00 (out of stock)

Winemaker

Granite Hills winemaker is Llew Knight, son of the founders – Gordon and Heather Knight.  Llew is a Wine Science graduate of Charles Sturt University, and a cool climate wine enthusiast.  His winemaking philosophy is – to coax the most pronounced flavours from the classic varieties using a range of winemaking and oak management techniques, creating distinctive cool climate wine styles, marked by their complexity and aging ability.

History

Knight’s Granite Hills one of Australia’s highest and most picturesque vineyards – perched atop the spectacular boulder strewn hills of the Great Dividing Range at 550 meters altitude, one hour (85 kms) North/Northwest of Melbourne.  Granite Hills lies at the northern extremity of the Macedon Ranges wine region on Burke & Wills Track – the route taken by those famous explorers on their fateful journey north to the Gulf.

The Knight Family pioneered winemaking in the Macedon Ranges region and since planting Granite Hills in 1970, have amassed some 400 awards at Australian and International wine shows, including 20 Trophies in the last 4 years, making Granite Hills one of Victoria’s most acclaimed. 

Vineyard

The Estate vineyard comprises 12 hectares of vines – 3 hectares each of Riesling and Shiraz, 2 hectares each of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, One hectare of Pinot Noir, and an additional hectare made up of smaller planting’s of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

The Granite Hills planting’s are the oldest in the Macedon Ranges region; their roots now well down into the old granitic sandy loam soils. It’s the good drainage and low fertility attributes of the soil at Granite Hills which is so beneficial to the balance of the vine, keeping the yields low and the quality of the grapes high. This ‘clean vineyard’ theme is also reinforced by the nature of the vineyard being very exposed to the prevailing winds - a factor which tends to lower humidity and therefore disease pressure as well as naturally limiting yields.
 
The ripening season at Granite Hills is long due to the southern latitude and altitude. This has the beneficial effect of allowing fruit characteristics to develop whilst still retaining good natural acidity. Vintage can continue into June in cooler years. Hand pruning and close attention to the management of the canopy allows for maximum penetration of sunlight to ripen the fruit, and selective hand picking is utilised to ensure only well ripened grapes enter the winery. While its location places Granite Hills vineyard in a cool climate classification, careful management of the vines and moderation of grape yields, produce deceptively powerful and definitive varietal characters.

James Halliday Sep 21 2001 Rating: 94 out of 100 Medium to full red-purple; a clean, ripe black cherry bouquet is reflected in the ripe black cherry and raspberry flavours of the palate, deliciously complexed by touches of spice and silky tannins, has excellent balance and length, fully deserving its trophy at the Macedon Ranges Wine Exhibition 2001.