The small family-run winery of Hollick is situated in one of Australia's finest
vineyard areas, on the narrow strip of Terra Rossa soil in South Australia's
Coonawarra district. This is a cool part of the continent where the proximity
of the coast means that cloud cover is common, modifying the climate. Hollick
Wines was established in 1975 by Ian and Wendy Hollick when they initially
planted 10 acres of land with Cabernet Sauvignon. Successfully producing
their own wines since 1983, they found that their production was so well
received and gained so many prestigious awards that expansion was inevitable
and so they purchased the nearby Wilgha Vineyard.
We have selected superb wines from the range that they produce. The white wine
we have chosen is an excellent Chardonnay; it is clean and elegant with beautiful
lemony hints on the finish. Their Pinot Noir is a revelation and, at the
price, it would be hard to find anything from Burgundy to rival it. Again,
it is a light, elegant wine but packed with ripe, soft-fruit flavours and
terribly appealing.
In the Cabernet Sauvignon we start to see a more typical Australian style coming
through, Hollick themselves call it 'Classic Coonawarra'. Rich, ripe and
concentrated, it is packed with intense fruit flavours. The star though is
undoubtedly their Ravenswood Cabernet Sauvignon, which is only produced in
outstanding vintages from selected parcels of their vineyards, and is aged
in new French oak barrels. The resulting wine has tremendous backbone and
structure, still with wonderful fruit but with greater depth and character.
Surely a New World Classic.