Tilbrook Estate | Old Woollen Mill | Lobethal | Adelaide Hills | South Australia

“Hand made by our hands.”

This is James and Annabelle Tilbrook’s vineyard and winemaking philosophy. James is self taught and has been inspired by the classic French wine regions of Burgundy, Champagne, the Loire and Alsace and this is reflected in the principles used in our Lenswood Estate. Lenswood is famed for apples and pears and since the early ’90′s as one of the coolest wine grape growing areas in the Adelaide Hills …

The vineyard was mostly planted in October 1999, with roughly 3.5 acres of Chardonnay and the same of Pinot Noir. A year later another 2.5 acres of Pinot Noir was planted, and then an acre each of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay for sparkling base and Pinot Gris for dry white and dessert wine were planted in 2003, 2004 and 2006 respectively.

Close planted vines feature with low vigour rootstocks and 6 to 7 different clones in the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. James feels this allows wine complexity to be “built” in the vineyard. The secret is to harvest each clone and rootstock combination seperately and then to nuture them to reach their full potential in the winery. James tries to allow the vineyard to do the talking and to interfere the least with the winemaking process. “Wine should be a reflection of place if at all possible” says James.

With time it has been possible to identify which clones and which parts of the vineyard are suited to different wine styles and quality levels. For instance the bottom of The Hill Chardonnay block is often the coolest part of the whole vineyard and is suited to our Reserve Chardonnay, whereas the top ripens earlier and is more suited to our Estate Chardonnay. In the Pinot Noir some clones produce bigger berries and bigger bunches – we use these for sparkling base. But some clones produce small berries and small bunches which we use for our Pinot Noir.

Under vine sprinklers are used to spread the roots evenly (instead of concentrating them under the dripper) and terracing across the slopes, which increases water penetration instead of allowing it to run off when it rains. It also means that a particular row is the same ripeness all along that row and so we can pick the bottom 12 rows of “The Hill” Chardonnay block and know that they will all be of a similar ripeness.

The crop is also netted when the birds become “interested” in it; our view is that our vineyard can coexist peacefully with native birdlife and animals.

Often a mob of kangaroos can be seen in the back paddock at dusk or one can be startled by the “thump thump” of a roo passing in a nearby vine row. The front Chardonnay block known as “The Hill” has a couple of roos who visit most evenings as well as various parrots and lorrikeets who swoop in amongst the vines on their way to their roosting sites. Occassionally sulphur crested cockatoos can be seen overhead and now and then a wedge tailed eagle. It’s a joy to see “nature” carrying on oblivious to and uninterrupted by Man’s presence. We won’t be doing anything to change that

We aim to grow the best possible grapes with minimal impact on the environment