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 The
setting for Souter's Vineyard overlooking pristine Happy Valley in north-east Victoria provides
the ideal conditions for producing classic cool-climate wines which typify the Alpine Valleys wine region. First established in the early 1980s, Souters is one of the oldest vineyards in the whole Alpine Valleys Region. The current owners have been here since 2003. Its a wonderful place to grow grapes, with classic alpine warm days, cool nights and rich, stony soil. The mature vines face North and West, catching the sun. Their roots penetrate deep into the soil, reducing the need for much irrigation. At around 300m elevation the vineyard has been until the last few years largely protected from frost. The vineyard is traditionally managed, the vines hand-pruned and the grapes hand-picked.We have embarked on a long term project of renovating the vineyard to make the most of lovely old vines. Production is kept low, optimizing the conditions to grow excellent grapes and provide the raw materials for very good wine. An investment has been made in new French oak for the red wines.We have 4 grape varieties, 2 white and 2 reds. Our whites are a small planting of flowery Gewurztraminer and a larger amount of Chardonnay. Our reds are Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. In 2006, we regretfully grafted an uneconomically tiny amount of very nice Pinot Noir over to Shiraz, and the newly grafted vines are doing beautifully on their big root systems. We have 5 wines available: 2004 Gewurztraminer now developing some toasty notes, a generous 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, a delightful 2005 Shiraz, a lively chardonnay from 2005 and our White Gold, made from very late picked chardonnay and gewurtz in 2006. The 2006 reds are currently bottled and ageing before their release in 2009. They are most promising. No wine was made in 2007 because of smoke taint from the many bushfires in Victoria in that year. The 2008 reds are still in barrel and will not be bottled until mid 2009 to early 2010. We are generally open from 10am to 4pm Friday to Sunday. Please drop in and receive a typical warm 'Happy Valley' welcome! |
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Page updated: April 3, 2009 |