Our Vineyards
“At Shadowfax we want our vineyards to express their own unique characters and the wine grown there to talk to the one who’s drinking it, by telling its own story. The grapes grown must reflect the site, thus each vineyard site must be grown depending on its own requests. If you look, listen and taste (both grape, vine and soil) the vineyard will tell you its needs and wants.
Whether that be some foliage manipulation, fruit thinning or it may be screaming out for a little drink, we will act. We are not afraid of new ideas, experimentation, trials and tribulation, whilst having a ball doing so. We want the vineyard to do the talking using the wine glass as its stage.”
Alister Timms – Vineyard Manager
Little Hampton
This single vineyard site at Little Hampton near Trentham, sits at 730m above sea level, which is one of the coolest in the Macedon Ranges. Deep red volcanic loams, over hard basalt outcrops, gives Little Hampton a unique balance between aromatics and power. One of the coldest vineyard sites in the country, it forces us to farm with the utmost precision. The original plantings of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris continue produce exceptional fruit, of which the Pinot Noir forms our flagship Little Hampton Pinot Noir. New plantings on the property have expanded the vineyard to Chardonnay and further clones of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, with new and exciting wines yet to come from Little Hampton.
Straws Lane
Planted in the 1980s to Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer near Hesket. This close planted vineyard is perched on the north side of Mt Macedon and almost kisses the clouds at 800m above sea level. The vines grow on a north-facing granite outcrop, producing grapes with great acid and fragrance. A truly unique site among those in the Macedon Ranges.
Midhill
The red volcanic soils are slightly acidic and well drained, excellent for vine health. In winter, frosts are common and light snow sometimes occurs. During the ripening season the site is subject to summer heat from the north winds, but being on the Great Dividing Range, cool nights often occur promoting retention of flavours, tannin and acid in the Chardonnay berries. The resulting wines have a good natural balance and are made with minimal intervention.
Werribee
Planted in 1998, the best parts of the Shadowfax Winery vineyard are hand selected and carefully grown with extra fruit thinning to produce our powerful and robust K Road Shiraz. Our Minnow wines, made from southern French varietals such as Grenache, Mataro, Carignan, Syrah and Roussanne, are also sourced from this vineyard. They are unadulterated by using no new oak and minimal intervention in the winery, giving the wines vibrancy, purity and drinkability.
Pyrenees
At Shadowfax, we thrive to find the balance of power, spice and poise in our different Shiraz ranges and our wine from the Pyrenees is no exception. White pepper and spice with a full palate and long fine tannins are the norm here. The inland location at the foothills of the Pyrenees mountain range creates cool nights and warmer dry days, which are perfect conditions to grow Shiraz. The wines always have natural spicy aromas with a generous mouth filling palate.
