Hillcrest Vineyard is a micro-boutique maker of individual, classically styled wines. Its owners, David and Tanya Bryant, look to the best producers from the famous French regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux as both their inspiration and benchmark.
The style of the wines is clearly influenced by the art of Old World viticulture and winemaking, yet retains the added element of richness which is a distinctive feature of Australian wines.

Drawing on their small 44 year-old vineyard in Victoria’s famous Yarra Valley wine region, David and Tanya have spent the best part of this decade working with one of Australia’s most highly regarded winemakers, Phillip Jones of Bass Phillip. During this time, they patiently observed and learned, progressively assuming more winemaking control each vintage, and now blend what has been an invaluable education with their own style and meticulous approach in the vineyard and winery.

Consistent with the principles which Phillip himself follows, the vineyard is farmed on largely organic principles, with herbicides and pesticides, together with all other systemic spraying, eliminated. Canopy management is critical and season-long attention is provided to each vine. Tiny (some would argue, uneconomic) yields of between 700kg-800kg per acre produce intensely flavoured fruit which provides a clear expression of its terroir and the vintage.

In the winery classic techniques prevail. Use of wild yeasts and genuinely unhurried, minimal intervention winemaking maximise the potential of the wines. The resulting quality is stunning and the wines are unique with personality, structure, texture and complexity.

Grapes are only ever sourced from the Hillcrest Estate itself; fruit is never purchased from other sources. Annual production from the original 1970 eight-acre vineyard is rarely more than 400 cases, with further plots planted in 2000 and 2005 (each six acres in size) providing the fruit for the Village label, which produces around 600 cases per annum. The rare Reserve, Premium and Estate wines are drawn from the original 1970 plantings, with the fruit from the later plantings finding its way into Hillcrest’s Village wines, often with a barrel or two of the wine from the 1970 plantings thrown in for good measure.

The wines are sold primarily via mail list and cellar door, together with a small number of selected retailers and restaurants. Also, Qantas regularly serves Hillcrest wines in its international first-class cabin – a huge compliment indeed, and if ever you are fortunate enough to travel at that end of the plane please do look out for them!

Trade sales for Victoria via Elizabeth Woods at Woods Wines and NSW Neville Yates at Eurocentric Wine Imports (please click on ordering wines for contact details).