Boutique Wines from the Oldest Mount Barker Vines
Established in 1965, Forest Hill is Western Australia’s oldest cool-climate vineyard and a proud family-owned boutique winery, creating exciting wines of the highest quality. Each wine is made to be a true reflection of the cool climate Western Australian region of Mt Barker in the Great Southern. Our wines express unique regional and varietal characters combined with finesse, elegance and definition.
The History of Forest Hill Vineyard
1955 - The West Australian Government invited Professor Harold Olmo from the University of California, Davis Campus to identify the most ideal growing location in the State for the production of premium cool climate wines.
1964 - Bill Jamieson and Dorham Mann decided on a top of hill situation at “Springvale”, in the locality know as Forest Hill and owned by Tony and Betty Pearce. This became Forest Hill Vineyard - the first cool climate West Australian vineyard.
1965 - A ten year contract from 1965-1975 was signed with the Pearce family and 5 acres of experimental plantings were leased by the WA Department of Agriculture. 2.5 acres of Riesling and 2.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon which were dry grown on the best soils.
1967 - Planted by Dr Tom Cullity Vasse Felix became the first vineyard and winery to be established in the Margaret River region.
1972 – On the 26th April Stirling MLA Matt Stephens officially picked the first bunch of grapes from the cool climate regions of WA. The Cabernet was then produced at Houghton’s by Jack Mann and the Rhine Riesling was made by Jack’s son Dorham Mann at Sandalford.
1975 – In the final year of the “experimental contract” with the Pearce family the wine was made by Dorham Mann at Sandalford winery. Picked on the 8th April 1975 the Riesling went on to win 12 Gold medals, 9 Trophies and is the most awarded and recognised in Western Australian wine history.
1980’s – Over time new varieties of Shiraz, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Gewürztraminer, were added.
1984 – 1988 - Betty Pearce took sole control of the Forest Hill wine business and Robert Bowen at Plantagenet wines in Mt Barker was contracted to make the wines winning a host of awards and Best Rhine Riesling at the Mt Barker show. Betty also started the first Government supported Australian Wine Association in the Great Southern with Tony Smith of Plantagenet wines.
1989 – Betty separated with Tony and her son Bruce Pearce decided to follow his own career and the business was sold for a record breaking sum of $1 million to the late Robert Holmes à Court at Vasse Felix who employed Bruce as the manager of Forest Hill.
1989 - Betty Pearce was awarded the honour of becoming the first female Wine Baron of Western Australia. At that time only men had been allowed into this club so Betty was asked to act accordingly and was requested to wear no perfume or lip stick. She agreed to their conditions and joined the Wine Barons of Western Australia, but refused to give up the lip stick!
1996 – The Lyons family, acquired Forest Hill. With a passion for cool climate wines and the industry at large, Tim Lyons has ensured the oldest vineyard Blocks are extremely well nurtured and yielding the best fruit parcels possible.
2005 – The new Cellardoor and Winery in Denmark was established as the winemaking home for Forest Hill 4kms outside of Denmark to fulfill the ambition and passion to make great cool climate wines.
2006 – Clemence Haselgrove closely followed by her husband Lee joined Forest Hill to develop both the winemaking and then viticulture at Forest Hill having discovered the history of the brand and the huge potential to make award winning wines from the old dry grown vineyards and cool climate conditions.
2011 – Today Forest Hill is a 5* Halliday winery and continues to make wines of the highest calibre with Western Australia’s oldest Cabernet and Riesling vines used in the production of Block 1 Riesling 2009 and Block 5 Cabernet 2007.
The Vineyard
There is something very special about the wines from Forest Hill. Part of this, of course, comes from the location. The vineyard is located in Mount Barker and the vines date back to original plantings made in 1965. This makes Forest Hill the oldest cool climate winery in Western Australia.
The Great Southern experiences diurnal temperatures (the significant difference between day and night time temperatures). Warm long day light hours coupled with the cool nights of the Great Southern harness ideal conditions for the production of cool climate wine styles.
At the time of establishment vineyard irrigation was not an industry consideration and all early plantings were ‘dry grown’ providing drought prevention and ensuring low yields. Forest Hill has retained this approach, believing it to be a major contributor to vine health and concentration of fruit flavour. The Forest Hill Vineyard is managed by our viticulturist Lee Haselgrove.
Winemaking
Forest Hill wines are cool climate in style; Our aim is to produce elegant and distinctive, approachable wines understated in style that express in their unique ways the essence of the mature vineyard that is Forest Hill.
The Forest Hill philosophy is to make wines of the highest quality, each having their own distinctive regional character. The core of the vineyard, the mature, forty five year old vines and the combination of our climate, with warm days and cool nights, ensure a strong regional identity repeat. Forest Hill follows the practice of having unirrigated vineyard produces low-yielding harvests which give maximum fruit quality and hence flavour intensity. With our own winery facility in Denmark and passionate winemaking team in place, we control all aspects of the winemaking, allowing the Forest Hill identity to be maintained and monitored. This ensures all Forest Hill wines are made with dedication to our philosophy and a determination to produce premium quality, unique wines. This is true at the three levels we market, the Block Series, the Estate Range and our Boobook Range.
Clémence Haselgrove, Chief Winemaker Forest Hill
Forest Hill’s Senior Winemaker, Clémence Haselgrove has, together with her enthusiasm and exciting philosophy, a very special pedigree. She was born and educated in the Bordeaux region in France and decided, at the age of 17, that she had to be a winemaker. A magical wine and food experience with a great Médoc and Rabbit Chasseur in the right setting decided her career. As she says, this changed her life: “I had to find out how to do this, not just a profession, but as an integral part of my life. Wine, good wine is a living thing and I wanted to have it as an important part of my life”.
Clémence did her degree and training in the Bordeaux region and began work there. But she wanted to do more than simply be part of carrying on an important winemaking tradition. She wished to experiment with different grapes in different regions and was attracted to Australia because of the opportunities here. She spent a number of years making wine in Coonawarra and came, eventually, to Forest Hill Vineyard in 2006.
She came because, as she puts it, “I was attracted by the opportunity to have my hands on this vineyard, to help develop the potential of the mature vines, and discover their regional expressions. Every year the challenge is a new one, a continuous process of learning, in which one has to “listen” to the grapes. How you assess the grapes is vital”.
Clémence’s philosophy is simple, “The personality and quality of the grape will determine the personality and calibre of the wine. As a team we respect the unique fruit that comes from our vineyard and concentrate our skills on creating from them premium, distinctive wines expressing the individual qualities of our region and each variety.”
The greatest strength of Forest Hill grapes comes from the age of its cool-climate vineyard, the original plantings of more than 40 years, and home to the Great Southern’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling vines. The unirrigated vines on their own roots produce concentrated and complete wines –elegant and refined – with the wines the finest examples of the label’s birthright.
The Block Series consists of: Riesling, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines are made from the property’s very best parcels of hand-picked carefully-selected fruit, resulting in wines – white and red – that will reward cellaring for up to 20 years, and beyond.
www.foresthillwines.com.au