Nick's Article: Levantine Hill – A Serious Play From a New Yarra Valley Player

Making a play into the world of wine from the ground up is a big call, even in a relatively new, emerging and welcoming market like Australia. But wine has few borders these days and if you want to be taken seriously, you have no choice but to step up to the world stage.

Enter Levantine Hill, a new label coming out of Victoria’s Yarra Valley that is making a bold play into the vinosphere. I recently attended a tasting in which they were introducing their wines to a room of thirty-odd special customers of award-winning independent Melbourne wine retailer Armadale Cellars.

The event was staged upstairs in Melbourne’s stylish fine diner, Woodland House, formerly home to Jacques Reymond. The principle was simple: come and taste the range of six Levantine Hill wines, each served against a comparative benchmark. Legendary Aussie wine critic James Halliday and myself were both invited to attend as guests and called on for expert opinion at various stages.

Benchmarking is a crucial exercise for any new winery but this was an ambitious play. Levantine Hill pitted their sauvignon blanc semillon against Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafite, their pinot noir against Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grand Cru Echèzeaux, their cabernet-based blend against Chateau Mouton Rothschild and their syrah against Guigal’s St. Joseph Vignes de l’Hospice.

Various thoughts came to mind when I was first invited, but the boldness of the exercise proved intriguing. I hadn’t tasted the Levantine wines before and I wanted to know how this would play out. Not in an ambulance chasing way, and certainly not wanting to rule on which wine was better than the other; for me it was an exercise in revelation and reflection. I wondered what these wines would say about each other, what shadows would be cast, and what light would be shone.

The Levantine project is a family-owned concern, led by successful property businessman Eli Jreissati who, after scouring the world, identified a site in the Yarra Valley in which to create a vinous nirvana of sorts. By all accounts this is a project with a no expense spared approach, alongside which runs a high expectation of outcomes on every level.

Until September last year, winemaking was carried out at Rob Dolan’s Yarra Valley winemaking facility under contract. Paul Bridgeman (ex-Yarra Yering and De Bortoli) started in September 2013 and blended the ’13 vintage wines ahead of shifting the winemaking closer to home at the Madden’s Rise winery where he vinified the 2014 harvest. Expect great things, Bridgeman is a gun.

What did shine through the Levantine Hill wines in this tasting is the quality of the fruit, driven by the quality of the site and, presumably, a commitment to working hard on the vineyard. It will be interesting to watch the project head into its next phase with Bridgeman at the winemaking helm.

Click for the notes and scores.

2013 Levantine Hill Yarra Valley Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

2006 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc

2012 Levantine Hill Yarra Valley Pinot Noir

2007 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echézeaux Grand Cru

2012 Levantine Hill Yarra Valley Samantha’s Paddock Mélange Traditionnel

2013 Levantine Hill Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Chateau Mouton Rothschild

2012 Levantine Hill Yarra Valley Syrah

2010 Guigal St. Joseph Vignes de l’Hospice

Nick Stock is a renowned Australian wine writer, author, presenter and filmmaker who reports on his worldwide wine tasting experiences for JamesSuckling.com.