In fewer than 50 years, Adelaide Hills has shot to stardom as a premium wine region at the forefront of Australian wine. It’s the coolest and most elevated wine region in South Australia, and is renowned for cool climate ‘new wave’ Chardonnay.
Up in the Adelaide Hills, passionate producers craft fresh, vibrant Chardonnays. The wines are elegant and textured, and they also have the acid structure to age and evolve. These bright and stylish white wines challenge old school assumptions about Chardonnay and rival the very best in the world. However, there's not just one style of Adelaide Hills Chardonnay. The region’s diverse topography creates an array of mesoclimates and microclimates throughout its peaks, slopes and valleys, resulting in a wide variety of styles.
The region's diverse, creative wine community also adds to the diversity of wine styles. Adelaide Hills is home to established and iconic names as well as a new generation of experimental winemakers carving their own paths and setting trends.
Excitement, elegance, elevation: for Adelaide Hills, the only way is up.
Hear from winemakers Turon White (The Lane Vineyards), Liam van Pelt (Ashton Hills Vineyards) and Tim Pelquest-Hunt (Orlando Wines) and find out why Adelaide Hills is a leader in “New Australian – New Wave” Chardonnay. The winemakers will take you round this cool climate hotspot and they’ll reveal why it’s such an exciting time for the region.
In a conversation with Rose Murray Brown MW, the winemakers will discuss their diverse styles of Chardonnay, the importance of clones, vineyard practices and sustainability.
The winemakers will be discussing these wines:
- Pike & Joyce Wines Sirocco Chardonnay 2021
- Orlando Lyndale Chardonnay 2021
- Sidewood Estate Chardonnay 2021
- The Lane Vineyard Heritage Chardonnay 2021
- Karrawatta Anth's Garden Chardonnay 2021
- Ashton Hills Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2021
Moderator & Speakers
Rose Murray Brown MW
Rose Murray Brown is one of only 416 Masters of Wine worldwide - and one of only 149 female MWs in the world. Rose trained with Sotheby’s International where she worked for 12 years as a wine and spirit specialist based in London and France. Now living in Scotland, Rose is Scotland’s leading award-winning drinks journalist, working as The Scotsman’s weekly drinks columnist and expert. She also writes for international specialist trade and consumer magazines and broadcasts regularly on radio. She worked as wine expert for the popular BBC Radio Scotland Kitchen Cafe programme, and presented a 13 part series on food and wine for Tyne Tees/Yorkshire TV. Rose is a highly experienced lecturer and speaker. She hosts a large programme of consumer wine courses, wine master classes and fine wine dinners - and organises exclusive hosted wine tours abroad and corporate entertainment events. She also lectures regularly to the trade and works as a wine consultant for several leading companies, marketing and hotel groups.
Turon White
Winemaking allows Turon White to indulge his love for science and artistic impression simultaneously.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Oenology from the University of Adelaide, he worked in wineries in Australia, Oregon (USA), and Eger (Hungary) before coming home and joining The Lane Vineyard. In 2018 he was promoted to head winemaker.
Over the past decade Turon has fallen in love with the Adelaide Hills region and is deeply passionate about its cool-climate wines, especially Chardonnay, Shiraz/Syrah, and the exciting future of Gamay in the region. When not crafting wines, Turon enjoys being outdoors, spending time in his own vineyard and listening to a variety of music genres including country, hip-hop and drum and bass.
Liam van Pelt
Following his completion of a Bachelor Degree in Oenology at the Adelaide University in 2010, Liam van Pelt enjoyed some time in the Italian regions of Chianti and Sardinia. Upon returning home to South Australia, he worked at wineries in the Clare Valley, Hunter Valley and McLaren Vale. He was selected to undertake the Len Evans’ Tutorial in 2015, and judges at regional and national wine shows.
In 2019 he started working at Ashton Hills in the Adelaide Hills as an assistant winemaker, cellar-hand, barista and right-hand man to the winery’s founder Stephen George. Stephen gave him the nod for both his wine and coffee making skills, and Liam was appointed winemaker at Ashton Hills after vintage. As in any boutique winery, all hands are on the pump: on any given day, Liam can be found pruning the vineyard, working cellar door, spending time in the trade, or actually making wine with Stephen.
Tim Pelquest-Hunt
Tim Pelquest-Hunt began his career at a suburban wine store while studying for his Bachelor of Music and Arts in Sydney. His talent for wine tasting took him in new directions as he become the Fine Wine Manager.
He subsequently enrolled in the Viticulture and Oenology program at Lincoln University (NZ). Since then, he has travelled the world, holding winemaking positions in New Zealand, Hunter Valley, Tasmania, Rheinhessen, West Sussex, Napa Valley and for the last decade, the Barossa Valley where he carries on 175 years of winemaking tradition at Orlando Wines.
His outstanding palate has seen him judge at wine shows across regional, national, and international levels. Tim was awarded Dux of the AWRI’s “Advanced Wine Assessment Course” in 2016 and in 2021 he gained a scholarship to the most exclusive wine school in the world, the Len Evans’ Tutorial.
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