Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard covers a steep cut of country from the ridgetops above the village of Clarendon to the Onkaparinga River in the gorge below. Since its establishment in 1971, the Hickinbotham Vineyard has become a part of Australia’s wine heritage, supplying fruit to produce many of Australia’s greatest wines. Breathing new life into this historic vineyard, winemakers Chris Carpenter and Peter Fraser are forging a new era of Hickinbotham’s prestigious legacy: building upon and honouring the vineyard’s acclaimed pedigree.

The 2022 growing season followed very similar conditions to 2021, though slightly cooler. There were favourable winter rains and a mild flowering and fruit set period. The cool ripening period took place between late January through to harvest in March. Yields were well balanced, and we were pleased with the fruit ripeness, intensity, freshness, and natural acidity.

The two varieties were hand-picked, destemmed and fermented separately, then gently basket pressed. The Cabernet on skins for 17 days and Shiraz 20 days. The Cabernet Sauvignon matured for 15 months in fine-grained Bordeaux barriques. The Shiraz is barrelled down to 1-2 year old French and Austrian oak puncheons for 8 months before a further 10 months in 4 year old French oak foudre. The finest parcels from each variety were selected and blended in foudre before bottling. Bottled November 2023.

51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Shiraz