Although close to McLaren Vale Peters Creek Road is much higher (330m), several degrees colder and much wetter than the vale. Top Note is a cool climate vineyard and geographically is part of the Adelaide Hills wine region.
Geoff Hardy of K1 fame planted our vineyard with the help of Giulio Dimasi (now at d'Arenberg wines) in 1995. Driving around this part of Kuitpo Forest you come across several vineyards planted by Geoff for Southcorp back in the glory days of $3,000 a tonne 10 year contracts. Geoff's vineyards are always recognisable for the superb laser line precision of his vertically shoot positioned trellis and the immaculate even planting of vines every 1.5 metres apart in rows of 2.75m width. The vineyard as we inherited it had been well looked after and superbly maintained with excellent drainage and long term conscientious care in the form of vineyard manager Kevin Farrelly.
Block 1: Chardonnay
Clones: I10V5, I10V1 Area: 2.74Ha
Arguably on the best soil in the vineyard (a sandy loam with underlying friable clay) Top Note produces some superb cool climate Chardonnay. Our view up the hill over the Chardonnay block is one of our favourite vistas. The eastward sloping block provides excellent drainage and, with very little help, the vines form a perfectly dappled coverage to the developing bunches. We released our first chardonnay from the 2015 vintage and in 2016 also took some grapes for the base of our sparkling wine.
Blocks 2, 3A & 3B: Pinot Noir
Clones: G8V3, 777, D4V2, MV6 Area: 4.21Ha
G8V3 is the poster boy of our Pinot clones. Pinot is notoriously tricky to grow yet the G8V3 develops beautifully each year with very little fuss or added help required. The heat of summer burns out the basal leaves in the canopy and they drop away to leave a perfect dappled canopy density to allow slow ripening and sufficient carbohydrate absorption to provide the fruit with sugar.
The MV6 and D4V2 are our problem children. Throwing all of their energy into adding new shoots and laterals at the expense of fruit the yield from these blocks has been consistently low. However on picking separately to the G8V3 in 2013 we noted the resulting wine was superb with a particularly attractive nose, great colour and touches of spice. Block 3 is a true winemaker’s block.
To add complexity to our Pinot Noir, we grafted over 4 rows of Block 2 (G8V3) to 777 in 2018.
Block 4: Shiraz
Clone: 2626 Area: 0.96Ha
The icon of our vineyard and grown on the deepest white sand. This encourages the vines to dig deep in an attempt to find what moisture they can. The loose bunches and mild summer temperatures encourage slow ripening and excellent cool climate Shiraz flavour.