Hilltops

The Hilltops region surrounds the town of Young, long recognized as the cherry capital of Australia. It is a wine region best known for Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Riesling and is located on the south-west slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Young itself is 385 km (or a 4 hour drive) west of Sydney and 150 km north-west of Canberra.

First settled in 1826, Young began as a sheep station before, like so many places in NSW, the discovery of gold generated rapid growth. This sheep connection had given the area its first name, ‘Lambing Flat’ and it was known as this when, in 1860, the discovery of gold brought more than 20,000 miners from around the Australian colonies and the world, including 2,000 miners from China. This led to one of the most infamous incidents in the region’s and Australia’s history, the ‘Lambing Flats Riots’ when in 1861, an attempt was made to drive the Chinese miners off the fields.

Young’s first cherry trees were planted in 1847, before the gold rush boom, but it wasn’t until long after the gold had disappeared that a long series of grafting experiments began to produce by the 1890’s a wide range of new cherry varieties such as Napoleons, Bigarroux and Marguerite. Nowadays cherry blossoms surround Young in the spring time and are the foundation of its long-running Cherry festival.

The history of wine grapes in the area date back to the gold rush era and in the late 19th century wineries run by settlers from Dalmatian in Croatia even won medals at the Sydney Wine Show. However, as in most NSW areas, local wine production faded as the 20^th century began. The modern-day pioneer of wine in the region was Peter Robertson who in 1975 established the Barwang vineyard. When McWilliam's acquired the 400-hectare property in 1988, only 13 hectares was planted in vines, though this still made it the largest vineyard in the region. It is still the region’s largest, though now with 100 hectares planted in addition to the Grove Estate Vineyard with its 55 hectares. All are situated above the 450m line. 

While the climate has substantial temperature variations during the growing season, the altitude at which most of the vineyards are established ensures an even, lengthy ripening period. Snowfall and frosts occur occasionally in winter and, while much rain falls in the growing season, most rainfall occurs in spring. The high altitude, and dry summer and autumn, makes for excellent ripening conditions, but also make irrigation essential. Together this allows for wines of great flavour and finesse.

These rolling hills above 500m are now starting to produce premium red wines, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Shiraz. They have a unique style due to the warm but not too hot summers followed by cool, dry autumns. The wines have distinctive cool-climate characters but at the same time are full and rich in flavour.

One of the major wineries already mentioned is the McWilliam’s Barwang Ridge Winery. Positioned at a high-altitude (560m), the vineyard has dry summers and autumns, cool nights and mild days. As a safeguard against drought, a 100 million litre dam has been built that can supply 120,000 litres of water per hour to all parts of the vineyard.

Another major vineyard is the Chalkers Crossing winery. Its first vines were only planted in 1997 and its first wines in 2000, producing premium cool climate wines such as Riesling, Semillon, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Chalkers Crossing winemaker, Celine Rousseau, was born in Paris and trained in Bordeaux, and in 2002 was named the QANTAS Young Australian Winemaker of the Year. Other wineries include the Demondrille Vineyards, Grove Estate, Hansen Hilltops, Lindsay’s Woodonga Hill, Allandale, Clonakilla, Hungerford Hill and Moppity Vineyards. There are four cellar doors in the region.

The Hilltops region takes in the shires of Boorowa, Harden and Young, with the majority of the vineyards south-east of Young. Boorowa, to the north east of the Hilltops region, has strong Irish connections that go back to the 1820s and is famous for the Irish Wool Fest over the October long weekend that always includes a wonderful selection of wine and produce. Harden is famous as the home of the Australian Light Horse Regiment and in February hosts Harden's Premium Produce day with music and great display of prime Hilltops foods. Young is the largest town in the region and is well known for stone fruits, premium wines and fresh farm produce. Young holds the National Cherry Festival in the last weekend of November, as well as the Wine and Dine with Rhythm in the Vines in February, and the Young ... on a platter! festival in April. Its Lambing Flat Festival includes a re-enactment of the reading of the Riot Act, reputedly the only time this was done in Australian history at Lambing Flat in 1861.

In addition to fine wines, the Hilltops has a good variety of regional foods on offer such as of course cherries, and also plums, peaches, prunes, apricots, mustard seed oil, asparagus, ducks, geese, organic chicken, and farmed rabbit. Its local attractions include JD’s Jam Factory in Young, the Lambing Flat Folk Museum (which contains the "Roll Up" Flag that appealed to miners to help drive out the Chinese), the Chinese Tribute Garden at Chinaman’s Dam, The Price of Peace Garden, and the Yandilla Mustard Seed Factory.

For such a warm area, the Chardonnays of the Hilltops are surprisingly elegant and will age nicely over five years or so. With careful site selection and good matching of grapes with altitude this is a wine region with much to offer in the future.