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In 1982 Merlot was planted on the Concongella Vineyards’ Thirteen- Acre Block. Imagine the surprise when half the vines behaved in a totally different manner.

Produced from the Concongella Vineyard, the geology and soils of the White Gravels Hill are markedly different from the sites directly around the cellars. There is, as the name suggests, ‘white gravels’ which lay over granite.

The name Hamill tells a multigeneration story of the Thomson family, beginning with Emily Grace Hamill, who married Fredrick Thomson. Hamill Shiraz is produced from the Sugarloaf vineyard, which is situated amongst the rolling hills surrounding the black ranges.

Chardonnay was one of the varietals planted in the Concongella Vineyard in the 1970’s despite the fact that cuttings were extremely hard to come by at the time.  The fruit for this wine comes from an old single vineyard located in a cool sheltered site within the Great Western GI.

The 2014 Thomson Family Shiraz was awarded the ‘Wine Of the Year’ for the 2017 Halliday Wine Companion and the 2017 was awarded 99 points for the 2020 Wine Companion. It is hand harvested, hand plunged and fermented in small open fermenters.

Dolcetto, previously labelled Malbeck with a ‘k”, was first planted in the Nursery Block at Best’s in the late 1860’s, and all subsequent plantings at Best’s have come from cuttings of these original vines. It has long been a topic of conversation as to why Henry Best chose to plant about 25% of the entire vineyard with what is, even today, a lesser-known variety.