Husband and Wife Team focusing on quality

This wonderful Riesling is the result of husband and wife team Fiona Purnell (winemaker) and Hugh Hull (Viticulturist) painstakingly reviving the  ‘Staughton Vale’ vineyard after 10 years of drought and neglect.

The vineyard is situated on the slopes of Mt Anakie in the Geelong region of Victoria. The first vines where planted in the mid 1980’s  with Bordeaux Red & White Varietals consisting of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Riesling was also planted and is well suited to the site.

Both Fiona and Hugh have 32 years experience in the Australian wine industry working in many regions across country – Margaret River, McLaren Vale, Barossa, Yarra Valley and Geelong to name a few. This experience and knowledge is setting the ground rules for the vineyard and winemaking using sustainable practices and little influence by machinery to protect fruit quality.

You can feel the passion and care that Hugh and Fiona put into their creation, with all the vines being picked and pruned by hand to ensure not only the longevity of the vines, but to importantly also help produce wine of high quality.

In this age of supermarket-dominated shopping and large mass producers of wine, it’s heartening that there’s still room for small independent producers who survive because they are passionate and do what they do well.

Enjoy!