About Gisborne Peak Wines at Mawarra Vineyard
The property was named 'Mawarra' back in 1976. We understand that 'Mawarra' means 'a pleasant place' in local aboriginal dialect. We invite you to share our 'pleasant place' with us.
Our History
In 1976 the first 12 acres of the Mawarra Vineyard property was purchased, a windswept block of what was once part of a cattle property, with only eight living trees on it. The first planting of grapes in 1978 was a hobby block of Sylvaner Riesling vines. Later these were grafted or replaced with Pinot Noir. This old block of Pinot is alongside the drive and car park along the entrance road to the cellar-door centre.
By 1980 the vineyard bug had got to vigneron Bob Nixon's imagination and the planting frenzy began. Bit by bit, the area has grown to now cover nearly 12.5 acres of what is now an 18-acre property through extra land being purchased adjoining the original block. There are five varieties presently producing grapes at the Mawarra Vineyard which make up the estate-grown wines of Gisborne Peak Wines. Pinot Noir occupies about 4.5 acres and about 1.5 acres of that is Mariefeldt with the remainder MV6. There is just a tiny bit less than 1 acre of Semillon, which dates back to 1981. This block produces between 2 and 4 tonne of fruit each year. Chardonnay covers about 6 acres of the property. The Chardonnay Bowl fans out from the Cellar-door Centre and features in many photos taken from the outdoor deck.
Now, 2006, for the first time our acre of Riesling has produced a small crop too. The property is nestled on the NE flank of Mt. Gisborne, Victoria, Australia, at an altitude of about 570 metres. It is a real cool, even cold, climate location with harvest usually occurring from late April to the end of May. Some years we pick Semillon in June as we did in 2005!
We average three days of snow a year. The cool climate at Gisborne Peak's Mawarra Vineyard limits the yield of the Chardonnay and 1 to 1.25 tonne to the acre is our regular range. These very low yields allow intense fruit flavours to develop as the grapes slowly ripen in Autumn each year. It's the quality of the Autumn period that has the greatest impact on the quality of our crop, and hence the depth of flavour of the wine, each year.
The Chardonnay and Semillon combine to produce our Duet. The 2004 Duet now on sale is a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Semillon. The mix varies in other years. Gisborne Peak's Mawarra Vineyard has a small patch of Riesling, the total area is now about 0.75 of an acre.
The vineyard is located within the Macedon Ranges wine region. A recognised cool climate wine growing region.
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