Hewitson was founded in 1998 as a result of winemaker Dean Hewitson’s driving passion to produce world-class wine from the historic, dry-grown vineyards of South Australia’s very best regions including the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills.
A typically cool growing season. An unsettled flowering (windy and a lot of rain) led to very low crops- and very concentrated wines. Chardonnay ripened slowly, with excellent flavours and great natural acidity.
Perfect flowering conditions in late spring helped cement a bountiful yield which was followed by a warm dry summer with virtually no disease pressure.
Within the 70 acres of 50 year old Semillon vines we have there is always a block that stands out each vintage and warrants keeping by itself for bottling under our White Label range.
La Bise is French for ‘The Kiss’ so it’s only natural that Tash would do a Pinot Gris as opposed to a Grigio which is more acidic and more Italian in style. From the same grape the Gris style is picked a little later therefore has higher sugar (alcohol) and less acid. It is more rounded on the palate and fuller bodied on the finish. I describe it as the chardonnay drinkers sauv blanc.
This wine pairs beautifully with seafood, chicken, and veal. Two of my favourite matches at home are Tunisian Lemon Chicken and Marmite Dieppoise, a rich creamy shellfish and fish stew from Normandy perfect for the middle of winter.
It took a little while for the aromas to be coaxed out but once they presented themselves they hit the spot. Pears and nutty aromas, almost like cashew, some honey and white peach skin. More time reveals some citrus flower and leaf. In the mouth and poached pears drive the bus followed by a subdued ginger and cinnamon like spice. Flavours are long and mouth filling - some delicious textural interest. I’d happily have a couple of glasses.
Our vineyards are all organic, having been converted in 2003. In the vineyard we use competitive biology, aiming to be completely chemical free in dry years and using half the organic standard of copper and sulphur in wet years.
