Nick's Article: Wirra Wirra Acquires Iconic South Australian Pinot Noir Producer Ashton Hills

I’ve said it many times: Ashton Hills is the pre-eminent maker of high-quality pinot noir in South Australia. Stephen George and his late partner bought the Adelaide Hills land nestled between Ashton and Summertown high above the city of Adelaide and established the vineyard and winery in the early 1980s. They quickly established a reputation for making high quality riesling, gewürztraminer, chardonnay, pinot noir and sparkling wines.

George’s wines have been uniformly good and unashamedly cool climate in style, but the pinot is the thing that has really elevated this hallowed jewel of a vineyard to its iconic status. Where many other winemakers have failed to really shape great pinot noir in the Adelaide Hills with consistency, George has calmly and quietly succeeded, year after year.

With thirty vintages now under his belt, he decided to go for a change of pace and placed the vineyard, winery and Ashton Hills brand on the market to interested parties late last year. Wirra Wirra, one of the most successful McLaren Vale-based wineries that has long been sourcing their white grapes in the Adelaide Hills, won George’s favor and the deal was inked in the midst of the 2015 harvest.

I caught up with Stephen last week in his modest cellar door cottage, which also serves as office as well as a labeling and packing room. Against a backdrop of autumnal vines he opened a recently bottled pair of 2014 pinots, which we tasted while we talked. “I really had no idea about the ‘14s,” George said. “They were difficult to understand – not like the bigger, richer years such as 2015. They’re light and feminine and it wasn’t until I did the final blend that I thought they’d be alright.”

He told me he has come to love making pinot noir for the complexity and elusiveness that is a part of its DNA. That and the ability to learn constantly from making it are some of the reasons he recently moved the entire vineyard (save for a thousand Riesling vines) across to pinot noir after trialing a wide range of clones.

“It’s the body of pinot that makes it so elusive,” he adds. “Everyone was asking me what ‘14 was like and I just kept saying ‘I don’t know.’ I knew what had happened in the vineyard that year, so they thought I was just being cute, but I really didn’t see the wine come together until the very last minute – right before bottling.”

2014 was a cooler year in the Adelaide Hills, and these two wines have a very fragrant, perfumed style as well as being beautifully transparent. Acidity is a constant feature of the wines from this elevated cool-climate vineyard and it drives clarity and purity into these wines. These are pre-release tastings and the wines will be available around the middle of this year.

The pinots from the warmer 2015 vintage were basking in the final stages of fermentation in George’s garage-like winery. I’ll be back to taste them in the (Australian) spring. 

2014 Ashton Hills Estate Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills

Very complex as a freshly bottled wine with all the savory, meaty fermentation aromas locked in including charcuterie and plenty of spices. The oak is playful and gently brassy, the fruit aromas are in the strawberry, cherry and redder spectrum and there’s plenty of fragrance here too. The palate has a smooth, even and elegant shape, some darker fruit flavors heading onto plum and blueberry territory as well as silky and long tannins. This is really velvety and very approachable. Full of charm. 93 points. Drink now.

2014 Ashton Hills Reserve Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills

A bolder wine with power and concentration, it proudly carries the DNA of this mature vineyard with a brambly array of red and blue fruits. Cherries are the focus, the oak is swallowed up by concentrated fruit and the spice and earth are written into the script of years ahead. This wine has plenty of fragrance to give, opening up with energy and vigor. The palate has contained shape and streamlined powerful tannins run in unison whilst acidity is a feature throughout. It drives long, packed with red and dark-cherry fruit flavors. Sweetly spicy and impeccably even. 94 points. Drink in 2020.

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