People: Jasper Hill is a small family business, founded by Ron and Elva Laughton in 1978. They moved to Heathcote in 1980 with their two young daughters Emily and Georgia to build a new life in the country. Ron with a back ground in Chemistry and Food Technology along with Elva who had been a Milliner, began with their first vintage in 1982. Now with the business in the hands of their daughter Emily and her husband Nick, operations are continued with enthusiasm, maintaining the high levels of quality set out by their forbears.

Vineyards: Situated in Heathcote, central Victoria, one and a half hours north of Melbourne . Two vineyard sites one kilometre apart, Georgia’s Paddock and Emilys Paddock, were planted in 1975. Subsequent plantings of Shiraz in 1987, Nebbiolo Grenache and Viognier in 1991 completed the vineyards. The Viognier was grafted into Fiano in 2014 while sadly the Grenache was burnt out in 2012 and never replaced. Emily’s Paddock faces east while Georgia’s Paddock faces predominately west, both vineyards are unirrigated and yield small quantities of organic fruit. They sit 300m above sea level and are grown in soil of broken down basalt from the Cambrian era, 650 million years old.

Vinification: Fully destemmed and hand sorted, all wines are fermented with natural yeasts without the addition of nutrients or enzymes. Gently pumped or plunged between four and six weeks before a gentle press and racked into French and Austrian oak to mature for 12 months. All wines are cross flow filtered prior to bottling and have minimal sulphur added throughout the winemaking process. Our aim is to showcase the vineyard sites, true to the year they were grown.