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The Top Dozen - Sponsored by Nepenthe

Nepenthe’s commitment to consistently high quality wine starts with the soil. In fact, together, our two vineyard areas’, Lenswood and Charleston, have extensive variety of soils and diverse topography that adds to the wonderful complexity and richness of the Nepenthe wines.

We also insist on the best quality fruit. At high altitude, our premium vines produce frighteningly low yields – but what they lack in quantity they more than make up for in quality and concentrated flavour.

High altitude viticulture is not without its challenges, but because we are firmly committed to quality we will continue to produce distinctive wines from relatively low yielding premium vines. We are proud of the reputation the nepenthe brand has already developed in both Australia and in the UK, and will not compromise our commitment to high standards.

Credit for this exceptional fruit must be given to our viticulture and winemaker staff; not forgetting for a moment the importance of our site, soil, and clone, and the effect of the season. If all of these factors combine correctly, the only other thing to get right is the picking date: the ‘window of opportunity’ to pick the fruit with the correct flavour spectrum is narrow, and requires the winemaker to spend considerable time in the vineyard at harvest.

Successfully steering a temperamental high altitudinal system of half a dozen grape varieties – including the infamous zinfandel – through vintage after vintage requires infinate patience and an intimate understanding of wine making that (almost by definition) verges on the obsessional. Which is why we hand picked the best wine making team available.

Our first plantings were chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and zinfandel. We also established some merlot, semillon, riesling and pinot gris.

So, before you banish sorrow from your soul with the next sip of Nepenthe, take a moment to reflect on our never ending struggle to bring you the very best in South Australian wine.

NepentheVineyards - www.nepenthe.com.au