Franco D’Anna and his team added this Gippsland vineyard to the estate in 2011. The eight-hectare site is planted solely to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and the vines are almost 20 years old. The team visit the vineyard once a week, tending the vines with the same meticulous care as their Yarra Valley estate. Like the home vineyard in the Yarra, this is a cool, free-draining site, and sheep run through the property in winter to keep grass and weeds under control. The fruit is destemmed without crushing and left on skins for just over three weeks before being pressed to old French barriques for a short maturation.
Considering the site, farming and undeniable talent of D’Anna as a winemaker, Wickhams Road represents some of the best value in Australia today. These fall firmly into the no-brainer category, and there is never enough to go around.