Rated 97 Halliday points. "Deep crimson-purple; whereas the '11 had to fight every inch of the way, this wine displays almost contemptuous ease in the way it has marshalled the layers of black fruits and ripe tannins that soak up the new oak inputs. This will be one of the long-lived, great Black Labels." James Halliday Wine Companion, July 2015.

By the Bend of a Brook is a vineyard planted to produce single block wines, where just about everything from the pruning, weeding & picking is done by the sweat of manual labour and a barking Kelpie. Only this fruit is in the SL Cab Sav. A lighter, fresher style of Cabernet,hand-picked with subtle oak. The wine was made in the Mediterranean style for casual, easy drinking. At a vineyard altitude of 400 metres above sea level the Adelaide Hills allows grapes to develop to full ripeness while retaining fresh cool-climate acidity and elegance.

Rich and deep in colour this wine has a bountiful bouquet of violets and plums aromas with a palate packed full of flavour. Enjoy rich dark cherries, earthy notes and cinnamon spice.

Production: 2015 Vintage - 100 Cases Oak maturation: New & 2 Yr old French oak hogshead casks for 15 months. Handpicked and gently crushed just after dusk on a cool night. Matured in new & used French oak barrels for 15 months. A Cabernet with dense ripe red and blue lifted fruits and rich cassis and tobacco notes. Some spice mixed with earthy tones. The wine is full bodied and fruit forward with pleasing black fruit surrounding a leafy core. The tannins are fine and focused. Good cleansing acidity with an elegant but savoury finish

Rich and spicy. Blackberry, dark chocolate, star anise, stewed plum. Decadent forest fruits, sweet spices, fine toasty oak, fine mouth coating soft tannins.

Red cherries and strawberries along with notes of undergrowth and preserved lemon. Bright and juicy red fruit characters with a savoury back half of earth, leather and subtle dried herbs. The palate is of medium weight with graceful, fine tannins that lend it a plush quality throughout. Grapes were handpicked, keeping individual clones separate in small open fermenters. Some whole bunch fruit was added to ferments, enhancing aromatics and structural complexity. Fermentation was initiated by indigenous yeast (wild ferment). Each clonal parcel was basket pressed and filled to seasoned French oak barrels with full solids. All barrels were kept on lees to build palate, body and complexity. They were racked and blended just prior to bottling. Stephen Georges three hectare, dry-grown, Ashton Hills vineyard lies in the Piccadilly Valley sub region of the Adelaide Hills on a ridge just below the summit of Mount Lofty. Planted in 1982, its a quality site that, thanks to the humility and integrity of its gifted farmer, has been the source of some of South Australias most intriguing cool-climate wines, and certainly its most authentic and fascinating Pinot Noir. You dont need to spend much time in the Piccadilly Valley to realise why this area was granted sub-regional statusit is totally different to the rest of the Hills. In short, its much colder and wetter. Georges Estate vineyard lies at 570 metres above sea level and the vines shudder through some of the coolest vintage conditions in the country. Meanwhile, rainfall is a whopping 1200mm a year, well over double that of the Barossa. Whether its the lifted perfumes, elegant structure and Alpine freshness of the Pinot Noirs or the icy purity of the Riesling, Piccadilly Valleys bona-fide cool-climate imprint is never far away. A healthy portion of old-vines and the vineyards south-facing aspect afford George the luxury of late harvesting that plays a significant role in the personality of these wines. Terroir is one thing, how its worked is another, and Stephen George clearly has an intuitive touch and the drive to continually evolve. Most recently this evolution has resulted in George grubbing out all varieties except for Pinot Noir, and a little bit of Riesling, focusing his Pinot Noir on four specific clones selected from a line-up of 25 that he had tested. The Ashton Hills winery is incredibly basic, with an earth floor and next to no equipment whatsoever. The Pinot fruit is destemmed via a small, customised, gentle destemmer that keeps as many whole berries as possible. The fruit is then basket pressed, and the wine is made without any sulphur additions until bottling. Some whole bunches are included, and the percentage varies according to the style of the vintage. The red wines are mostly raised in aged, neutral French hogshead barrels. Having already cemented his living-legend status amongst his peers and compiled a storied CV that includes his role at Wendouree (since the 1980s) and twenty five vintages at the helm of Ashton Hills, you could forgive this reclusive winemaker for taking his foot off the gas. Not a bit of it. Stephen George is in fact making the best wines of his career.