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Wine Description
The Story
The estate's wines are piously crafted to showcase the attractive and distinctive attributes of superfine Cabernet Sauvignon. Sourcing fruit from well managed vineyards ensures consistency, as it articulates the richness and diverse flavour spectrum of all good things McLaren Vale.
Chapel Hill expresses the affability and charm of the finest McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon. With such a close proximity to the Gulf of St Vincent and the cooling afternoon sea breezes she provides, fruit ripens slowly. Flavours, colours and tannins develop slowly and to the fullest. Cabernet grapes grown here are bursting with natural fruit sugars and exhibit excellent varietal definition. The individual parcels are harvested separately and vinified on skins for a minimum of nine days. Ferments are gently managed to ensure that any astringent qualities or stalky tannins are not drawn. Matured nineten months in a selection of new and seasoned French and American 300L oak hogsheads. Alcohol 14.5%
Deep crimson colour. Aromas of intense violet, chocolates and cedar, a background of mints and turkish delight. An evocative array of flavours to the palate, brooding mulberry and aniseed, dark cherries and liquorice, chestnut and beetroot flavours all mingle harmoniously. The layered flavour profile is underpinned by a graceful and seamless integration of fruit with dusty fine grained tannin structure, all framed by sumptuous spicey oak.
Wine Information
Originally the Christian Bible Church for the local area then later also used as a parish school; the chapel closed in its centenary year (1965) and fell into disrepair until its restoration in the 1970s by Adelaide Professor, Tom Nelson. Tom commenced the establishment of a winery and the Chapel Hill brand in 1973 and six years later the site was purchased by a partnership of the Sellick and Gerrard families who enjoyed considerable success in developing the Chapel Hill wines. Gerrard bought out the Sellick family in the 80’s. A new winery was constructed in 1994 with a capacity of 1000 tonnes the equivalent of around 80,000 cases of wine. In 2000 Chapel Hill was acquired by the Swiss based family of Thomas Schmidheiny.
Chapel Hill owns and operates 44 hectares of vineyards and purchases fruit from a select group of McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills vignerons.
Since 2006 there have been a number of significant changes within the business. Changes to vineyards, wine styles, packaging and personnel have significantly contributed to a new look Chapel Hill that is totally dedicated to producing the best possible quality range of wines that articulate the stylistic expression the region.
In 2003 we opened The Retreat showcasing the very best of McLaren Vale regional food, wine and accomodation experiences.
