Gracedale Hills Estate was established in 1996 by Richard
and Verna Gutch and family on their property situated on the Yarra
River, ten kilometres from the township of Healesville in the Yarra
Valley region of Victoria, Australia.
Planted with only Chardonnay
and Shiraz, the vineyard is ideally situated on a northeasterly facing
gently sloping hill above the valley floor, providing excellent drainage
and ripening potential.
As a long time member of the “House of
Lords” at Jimmy Watson’s Restaurant and with a life long
interest in wine it was inevitable that Dr Gutch would become a vigneron.
Phase I has been the planting the planting of 3.2Ha vineyard and there
is room for expansion as the future demands.
The aim is to produce only premium fruit and this has been achieved.
A proportion of the fruit is supplied to McWilliams Wines and the
Estate won the McWilliams inaugural “Grower of the Year
Award” for 2004. The remaining fruit is made and bottled
under the “Gracedale Hills” label. The
fruit is hand picked, de-stemmed into open stainless steel fermentor
as whole berries.
Fermentation is completed in one & two year old French barrique’s
and given a minimum of 15 months in the barrels. The wine has been
stored to recover from bottle shock and is now released ready for
your enjoyment. The cellaring potential is up to 5 years.
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