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The Vineyard

Most of the vines at Lion Mill are now at or approaching five years of age and, hence, a more mature status. Having been very well received by judges in their youth, we fully anticipate that the wines from our vines will continue to develop well as the vineyard matures further.

The "Old Block"

We planted this, the first area of the three separate plantings around the property, in 1999. It comprised half an acre of Cabernet and Shiraz as well as a small number of Muscat of Alexandria (which we will bud to Orange Muscat in 2006). We added a small number of Durif vines to the “Old Block” in 2005 and will add to these with some budding of mixed vines in 2006.

Wine made from the fruit in this early planting won awards in the 2002 Perth Hills Wine Show: silver for the Cabernet and bronze for the Shiraz. The wines have continued to mature and show unusual depth for young wines; in the 2005 Perth Hills Show both wines won the same medals and the Cabernet won the award for the best single red variety exhibited in the Show.

The "Two Acre"

Spurred on by our early success in establishing the “Old Block”, in 2000 we undertook the ambitious project  of planting a two acre plot made up of Shiraz, Cabernet and Merlot. Both 2000 and 2001 were dry to moderately dry years with little spring rain. We decided that we should strip the fruit in both those years in order to give the vines the best chance to establish a strong framework and canopy in the somewhat adverse conditions. Consequently, our first harvest from this block was in 2003. In 2004 we added a small plot of Zinfandel (Primitivo); in 2005, we budded some Merlot to the same variety; and in 2006 will plant another small number of Zinfandel to make up a commercially viable area within the vineyard.

The "Semillon"

Otherwise referred to as the “Madman’s Block” on account of a senseless act of vandalism on the vines in 2003. We planted this half acre of whites in 2001. It is testament to the tenacity of vines that they recovered and that we were able to pick the first fruit from them in 2005. The wine from that vintage subsequently was awarded a bronze medal at the 2005 Perth Hills Wine Show.