The south-facing slope at Prices Road is devilishly steep, receives little direct sunshine and the Hill’s name is richly deserved. Some years the grapes simply fail to adequately ripen and other years, all is forgiven when incredible fruit is, by necessity,100% hand picked and outstanding flavours materialise.
Bastard Hill is Yarra Burn’s icon label, from a single slope on our Prices Road, Hoddles Creek vineyard, and is only crafted in years of singular perfection. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have the mettle to survive this unforgiving site. These exceptional, highly awarded wines are producedin only the limited quantities that nature will allow.
Brilliant cherry red in colour, this wine displays bright, ripe raspberry fruit characters with classic rhubarb and beetroot on the bouquet. Very fragrant white pepper and spice notes, plus thecomplexity of lifted violet and rose petal floral characters add to the intensity of this wine.
Plush sweet fruit characters plus the silky, yet firm tannins ensure this wine is delightful on thepalate. Very tightly structured in its youth, this wine opens up beautifully with great complexity of flavour on the palate – the classic ‘peacock’s tail’.
2008 was another warm year, but nothing compared to the challenges faced during the previousvintage. The better soil moisture lead to brighter canopies which helped the vines maintain brightness and freshness in the fruit. Once again, the sheltered Bastard Hill site was protected fromthe hot spells of the season and the key to retaining both freshness and complexity. Alcohol 13.5%; Just 200 cases made.
A Volnay-like charmer with elegance and finesse. Deep smoky charcuterie-like aromas of rose petals, sweet red cherries, raspberries and spices are backed by assertive scents of smoky oak. It's deep, finely textured and sumptuous, with delicious layers of sweet red cherries and plums backed by earthy, spicy and meaty influences underpinned by fine, sappy tannins. It's long and very complete, finishing with a lingering core of fruit and suggestions of mint and menthol. Not yet that complex, but with great potential. Drinking: 2013-2018+ Rating: 95 Points; Jeremy Oliver Australian Wine Annual
The top-of-the-range Bastard Hill wines come from a spectacular high-altitude site that got its name from vineyard workers tired of trudging up and down the extreme mountain-goat slope, which is bitterly cold in winter. This new release is very aromatic and quite light but with intense flavours (from bacon to sweet cherries), soft tannins, sexy texture and quite forward oak that is still in balance. Almost ethereal. Drink with herbed quail. Winsor Dobbin; January 2010
Bacon bone bouquet, with cherry fruit, toasty oak and a touch of spice; surprisingly sweet fruited palate, with drive and nerve; needs time but the precision is certainly there to suggest an interesting future. Price: $65; Drink: to 2016; Rating: 94 Points; James Halliday Wine Companion
Barrel fermented wine in the final blend gives some Yarra Valley Pinot Noirs a sort of smokey bacon character. The colourfully name Yarra Burn Bastard Hill Pinot was the clearest example of this, but unfortunately for those of you who want to try it, it’s not available in the UK. The wines we tasted were all 2008, paler than you might expect for wines only a few years old, elegant, and indeed wonderfully ethereal! If you like Pinot noir then it's a great region, well worth taking a look at. Brompton Wine, UK