Penny's Hill Vineyard, McLaren Vale

Business Partner, Tony Parkinson

Established by Adelaide advertising man Tony ‘Parky' Parkinson and his wife Susie, the vineyards were set up by industry mogul, David Paxton, and are managed by David's off-sider, Toby Bekkers. Located in the central foothills of McLaren Vale, soils are unprepossessing, being shallow and stony, with low vigour and low moisture holding capacity. Perfect for growing high quality grapes, as it turns out.
Penny's Hill departs from the McLaren Vale norm as far as vineyard set up goes. Returning from a trip to France, David Paxton convinced Parky that narrow planted, high density vines were the key to grape quality, and as such, Penny's Hill Shiraz is planted to 2.2m rows (the average in McLaren Vale is 3 metre rows), with only 1.5 m between the vines. The theory is that this reduces the volume of grapes per vine, which increases concentration and flavour. Trellised to a single cordon, which is vertically shoot positioned, the vines are hand pruned and managed.

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