Description
About Colmar Estate
Just 10 minutes’ drive from the gastronomic heart of town, our lovingly tended, family-owned vineyard is a sight for sore eyes.
Colmar Estate is a 6-hectare vineyard nestled in the slopes of Mount Canobolas in the Orange Region. At an altitude of 980 metres it is one of the highest vineyards in Australia and a unique site to grow high quality wine grapes. The cool, continental climate of Colmar Estate is similar to those in some of the classic wine regions of France that have inspired us, such as Burgundy and Alsace. Most of our blocks of vines sit on a north-facing slope, ideal for making the most of the sunshine in a cool climate. The vineyard has weathered volcanic soils of moderate fertility, which drain well.
The first vines were planted in the vineyard in 1991 in what is now unimaginatively called Block 1. The chardonnay and pinot noir vines in this block are now nearly three decades old and they do what exactly what old vines are supposed to do – produce moderate yields of premium quality fruit. The remainder of vineyard was planted over the next few years, though some of the red varieties chosen proved unsuitable for the cool site. We grafted these to white varieties and pinot noir when we purchased the vineyard in 2013.
About Orange Wine Region
While we were passionate about owning a vineyard and making wine it had to be elegant, distinctive, high quality wine. Australia already had plenty of BIG wines from warm regions – we were looking for the delicacy and finesse that comes from cooler regions.
And when we scanned New South Wales for a suitable wine site for our vineyard the Orange Wine Region effectively chose itself. Most of Australia’s cooler wine regions are in the south of the country but Orange finds coolness in another way – altitude. In fact, the Orange Wine Region is defined by altitude – all vineyards in the region are over 600 metres above sea level and some are over 1000 metres, well up the slopes of Mount Canobolas, an old, extinct volcano.
At around 600 metres elevation, the summer days are warm – ideal for many red varieties. But the higher you go in the Orange Region the cooler it gets and the vineyards become more suitable for white varieties and pinot noir. And the highest vineyards produce superb fruit for sparkling wines. All this in one wine region! Most wine regions are known for one or two varieties; Orange is known for its incredible diversity. But there is one constant – the elegant, cool climate style of the wines.
