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WHISSON LAKE: THE PINOT PIONEERS.
Pinot Noir’s reputation today is so absolutely established in
the minds of Australian wine fanatics that you have to use your
imagination to understand how radical a step it was when Mark
Whisson and Bruce Lake decided to plant 5 hectares of Pinot Noir in
the Adelaide Hills back in 1985.
While the great wines of Burgundy had always been famous,
there were few who recognised that if Pinot Noir was to flourish in
Australia then it would have to be planted in regions that were
very different to the hot, dry and flat lowlands that had been
traditionally considered suitable for vines.
For Pinot Noir to succeed, it would require the planting of a
site that was not just extreme but, by the industrial logic of the
1980s, foolhardy and even downright dangerous!
At over 600m above sea level, the vertigo-inducing,
east-facing slopes of Mount Carey dominate the Piccadilly Valley
just as the hill at Corton dominates the vineyards of Burgundy.
Westerly winds consistently blow in off the Southern Ocean and up
to a metre of rain may fall here in a typical year. Snow is not
unknown in winter in this frigid part of South Australia. While
Adelaideans swelter on hot summer nights, just 10kms away at Mt
Carey a jumper and jacket may be a strict necessity!
In short, Mark and Bruce saw that this was just the kind of
site where Pinot Noir could – and would – prosper.
The vines were planted and over the next twenty years as
their roots searched ever further into the profoundly deep and
rocky soil, attitudes also changed and winemakers realised that
Pinot Noir was indeed a possibility in Australia and that the Mt
Carey site gave wine of aromatic intensity and robust tannin
structure. Grapes from the Whisson Lake Vineyard are now highly
sought after and a couple of South Australia’s most famous wineries
purchase the majority of the crop to lend power to their own
blends.
But while the world has changed, Mark Whisson is still
looking after the vines he planted in 1985 and Bruce Lake is still
directing the business. In 2003, Mark and Bruce were joined in
ownership of the vineyard by Bill Bissett and in 2008 Tom Munro
joined the team to oversee a winemaking process in which the
amazing natural qualities of the Whisson Lake vineyard are clearly
expressed by the Pinot Noir grape.
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