Penny's Hill: Winemaking Philosophy

Winemaking philosophy

The team of Ben Riggs (maker) and Toby Bekkers (viticulturist) isolate different parts of the vineyard that produce grapes with distinctive characteristics. These different parcels are picked, fermented and barrel aged separately to provide the very best blending components to create the Penny's Hill wines. We call this 'mini appellation' approach 'footprinting' the vineyard, and our reserve wines will be sub-branded 'Footprint'.

One of the Shiraz Blocks on the Penny's Hill vineyard has shallow soils at the northern end of the vineyard, which produces tannic, deeply coloured wines. The soils become deeper, moving south, where the wine produced tends towards a more elegant and fruit-driven style. We make four and five picks in the Shiraz vineyards over different days, so we can keep these parcels separate from the vineyard to the winery. Our policy of footprinting enables us to continue the Penny's Hill philosophy of attention to detail from the vineyard, into the winery. We source our grapes from two very distinctly different sub-regions within McLaren Vale.

The Penny's Hill vineyard in the foothills is slightly elevated above the main valley floor on shallow soils, tending to produce earthy, tannic and more structural wines. The Goss Corner and Malpas Road vineyards are situated on the valley floor with flatter topography. Soils are heavier and generally more fertile, with a better water holding capacity. Overall the site is more vigorous and tends towards more fruit driven and fragrant styles. The resultant wines from these two sites provide us with subtly different styles to choose from when blending the final wines. We use only the very finest oak (predominantly French oak from four different coopers), as well as the best, well-seasoned American oak.

The reds finish their fermentation in barrel. A small proportion of the Chardonnay is barrel fermented and matured in oak, and whilst the Semillon is a fresh fruit driven style, a tiny percentage spends a short time in oak to add texture. We gently guide our wines every step of the way through the winery, to make wines of complexity, texture and interest.


	Winemaking philosophy The team of Ben Riggs (maker) and Toby Bekkers (viticulturist) isolate different parts of the vineyard that produce grapes with distinctive characteristics. These different parcels are picked, fermented and barrel aged separately to provide the very best blending components to create the Penny's Hill wines. We call this 'mini appellation' approach 'footprinting' the vineyard, and our reserve wines will be sub-branded 'Footprint'. One of the Shiraz Blocks on the Penny's Hill vineyard has shallow soils at the northern end of the vineyard, which produces tannic, deeply coloured wines. The soils become deeper, moving south, where the wine produced tends towards a more elegant and fruit-driven style. We make four and five picks in the Shiraz vineyards over different days, so we can keep these parcels separate from the vineyard to the winery. Our policy of footprinting enables us to continue the Penny's Hill philosophy of attention to detail from the vineyard, into the winery. We source our grapes from two very distinctly different sub-regions within McLaren Vale. The Penny's Hill vineyard in the foothills is slightly elevated above the main valley floor on shallow soils, tending to produce earthy, tannic and more structural wines. The Goss Corner and Malpas Road vineyards are situated on the valley floor with flatter topography. Soils are heavier and generally more fertile, with a better water holding capacity. Overall the site is more vigorous and tends towards more fruit driven and fragrant styles. The resultant wines from these two sites provide us with subtly different styles to choose from when blending the final wines. We use only the very finest oak (predominantly French oak from four different coopers), as well as the best, well-seasoned American oak. The reds finish their fermentation in barrel. A small proportion of the Chardonnay is barrel fermented and matured in oak, and whilst the Semillon is a fresh fruit driven style, a tiny percentage spends a short time in oak to add texture. We gently guide our wines every step of the way through the winery, to make wines of complexity, texture and interest.