Our Story | Pewsey Vale Vineyard

One word: Riesling.

Pewsey Vale’s story was and always will be Riesling. The focus on the variety is unwavering. Every label throughout our history has featured an image of the iconic Eden Valley vineyard. Here, high in the hills hugging the Barossa, a certain kind of magic takes place across the Riesling parcels that rise from the gently undulating landscape.

The single variety estate was first planted with the good stuff in 1847 and in the 177 years since, its wines have captured hearts. The current collection presents flavours so distinctly Pewsey Vale, they are instantly recognisable. What’s the secret? It all comes down to place. Climate, aspect, soil type, altitude and sustainable viticultural management all play their part but it’s what goes on below in the stony terrain, that really makes its mark.

If the vineyard could speak, it would regale with tales of pioneering growers, multiple owners (including the Hill-Smith family’s 60 years and counting), and Mother Nature’s highs and lows.

Throughout it all, the Riesling’s unmistakable characters stayed the same: an elegant, dry palate with fresh and crisp citrus flavours. Drink it now or watch it age with grace. Consistency like this cannot be replicated, especially when it starts from the ground up.

Just as Pewsey Vale’s story started with Riesling, it will end with Riesling.

That’s the beauty of vineyards and wine of such quality and provenance; they outlive us all.

It’s difficult to say whether the late Joseph Gilbert could have predicted the legacy he started when his weathered hands planted one acre of vines on the property he named after his home in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, UK.

The small agricultural gesture played an important part in history. It was Eden Valley’s first vineyard and one of the first of what is now Australia’s collection of coveted cool climate sites. Joseph and his son William dabbled in other varieties, including Verdelho, Gouais and Shiraz, but Riesling has always been Pewsey Vale’s backbone. When Joseph died in 1881, Pewsey Vale Vineyard had grown to 29 acres and things quietened down when William retired in 1914 (fortified wine was all the rage back then so demand for the kind of table wine we love today waned). Many-an owner followed until 1931, when Geoffrey Angas Parsons purchased the property for just over 12,968 pounds and in 1961, buoyed by enthusiasm for the site’s Riesling history, approached his pal Wyndham Hill-Smith with a proposal to restore the Pewsey Vale Vineyard and replant it to Riesling (he had the Hill-Smith's vineyard manager Norman Hanckel cheering him on in the wings). Adding some serious Riesling wisdom to proceedings, then winemaker Rudi Kronberger chose cuttings from quality old vines (thought to be from the original Pewsey Vale vineyard) and the rest, as they say, is history.

Any vines added since have been propagated from material from the 1961 Block. The Hill-Smith family custodianship began when Wyndham Hill-Smith purchased the land in 1970 and the family has been devoted to the land ever since. “I love being part of that history,” says chief winemaker Louisa Rose. “I’m only one person removed from Rudi who came out here from Vienna in the 1929 and made wine here for decades and then Peter Wall.” Peter Wall followed in Rudi’s footsteps and spearheaded the research that led to the first commercial release in Australia of the 1970 Pewsey Vale Riesling. Louisa Rose then took the reins as Head of Winemaking, and cemented Pewsey Vale’s position as a benchmark Australian Riesling and one of the finest and most recognised Rieslings around the world.

The 2021 vintage release of Pewsey Vale Vineyard was formally recognised for its sustainable winegrowing credentials, being amongst the first wine labels in Australia to display the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia trust mark. The future is as bright as it is consistent.