Where Two Hills Vineyard is located, among the beautiful rolling hills between Yarra Glen and Yea at the Southern edge of what is commonly known as the Upper Goulburn Wine Region (www.uppergoulburnwine.org.au), there are many more small and very small vineyards and wineries out there.
Definitions of what a boutique vineyard and/or winery are vary. Some think the total tonnage for the wine label should be below a certain limit (for instance a maximum of 250 tonnes crushed per year). Others see the limitation of yields as crucial (for instance less than 3-4 tonnes per acre). Specialised organisations of producers and wine merchants support the Boutique vineyard sector (for instance www.boutiquewineries.com.au) and cater to their needs. The size differential is usually compensated by outstanding product quality. Hand crafted, artisan wines from Boutique vineyards and wineries can certainly compete with mass-produced, industrial products.
Two Hills Vineyard in Glenburn
What they all have in common is the limitation of overall quantity for the sake of quality.This is exactly what we at Two Hills are attempting to do. Less is more for us. Our philosophy is that only excellence is worth being produced. This is also our economic niche which hopefully allows us to survive in this very competitive market. Fortunately, wine drinkers always want to try something new, they want to explore new opportunities, find new challenges. We attempt to serve this urge. And since every year’s grapes are different also the wines we make out of these grapes are different. We only use high quality fruit. In order to get to the 3 tonnes yield per acre we have to drop a lot of fruit in order to ripen the remaining one to the highest standard. Steve Sadlier of Vineadvice, our viticulturist, makes sure that the standards are high and consistently maintained.
Another aspect of Two Hills Vineyard is that it is a single site (in German: Lagenwein). Therefore the “terroir” matters to us more than to others. Our wines are made in the vineyard. There is no blending going on. What we get at harvest time, is what we process. We do not buy grapes from other locations. This is why we devote all our times and effort to the production of clean and healthy, top quality fruit. The wines we produce are witness to this philosophy. Alan Johns, our winemaker at Yering Farm (www.yeringfarm.com.au), has the passion and devotion to producing top wines. The Merlot 2006 which we are going to release soon will prove this. Unfortunately we have only a couple of thousand bottles of this treasure.
The Man from Mosel River 