The name Symphony Hill Wines encapsulates the grand philosophy of enjoying the ‘symphony of life’. A philosophy and lifestyle that celebrates all that makes life special. This includes great wine, great music, great friends, great laughter and great causes to get behind, all merging together towards a life of treasured memories.
Symphony Hill Wines is a group of family and friends bonded together on the quest to make world class wines and to never stop learning, born out of a dream to combine our passion for wine with embarking on a grand adventure to create world class wine in a new wine region. We are a company that wholeheartedly believes in the mind-blowing potential of wines grown and made on the Granite Belt. The Granite Belt is the promised land of viticulture with altitudes ranging from 600m to 1000m – all within the one region. As a result, climatic conditions vary tremendously allowing all sorts of varieties to excel depending on which altitude they are planted.
As an example, our own vineyard is the highest of the region allowing our flagship wine, Reserve Shiraz, to produce a style of wine that is unique in Australia and totally different to Shiraz grown at lower altitudes. Our Cabernet Sauvignon is harvested in early May which is one month later than Cabernet harvested in Clare Valley, showing how cool our climate is in comparison to other wine regions.
Lower altitude vineyards on the Granite Belt are where we source varieties more suited to slightly warmer conditions, like Petit Verdot and Tempranillo. It is a wonderful situation to be able to make excellent wine from so many different varieties. We are pioneers in a wine region not previously known for world class wine. For every challenge that comes our way when marketing a new wine region, we see an even bigger opportunity to introduce stunning wines that changes the way people think about Australian wine. Our vision for the future of the Australian wine industry is a shift from tradition – traditional wine regions and mainstream varieties – to exciting new alternative varieties from new wine regions that tantalise people like any great wine should.
So why the name ‘Symphony Hill’?
Prior to planting, Elissa went for a bush walk up to the top of the hill which now overlooks the vineyard and had a “Julie Andrews” moment. She felt the hills were alive and loved the symphony of nature playing out before her. She came down from the hill, not with 2 stone tablets, but with a declaration that the winery would be named “Symphony Hill”.
“The success of Symphony Hill wines has been exhilarating and satisfying and born out of a decade of working harder than I had ever worked in my life,” says Ewen. The success is due to the team behind the wines, all being essential ingredients for Symphony Hill to exist and flourish. Every gold medal, every trophy and every 5-star rating bears the fingerprints of the team.
We are giving it a crack. And after our first two and a half decades of learning, we look forward to what the next decade will teach us. Stay tuned…