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Hatton Estate, in the heart of Gimblett road and the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District enjoys a unique interaction of climatic and soil type factors that if one were present without the other the beneficial attributes of either would be negated entirely.
Hatton Estate shows the potential for the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing to become an internationally respected consistent producer of high quality red wines specifically from the Bordeaux varieties and Syrah.
The Climate
Gimblett Gravels has enough summer-long heat and relatively warm daytime temperatures for the ripening of the Bordeaux varieties and Syrah in most years. Significantly these warm temperatures are reached earlier in the day and last longer into the evening. They are due to an interaction between the districts sheltered location some 15km from the sea where the sea breeze is significantly warmer; its relatively low altitude only 30m above sea level; the south-westerly shelter of Roy’s Hill; and very importantly the soil type.
The gravely soils warm up early in the spring, dry out rapidly and act as a big thermic blanket under the vines of the Gimblett Gravels with soil temperatures at 30cm below ground level being some 5C higher than other localities.
Warm soil temperatures have a direct impact on hormonal triggers in the vine during ripening, nice warm soils in climates such as ours giving the most desirable effect. This thermic blanket also releases heat in the evening to the surrounding air, meaning the air temperatures stay warmer throughout the night sometimes into the early hours of the morning.
The Soil
The lack of soil typifies the terroir of Hatton Estate and influences the amount of water that is available to the vine through the season, and how the vine gets it.
Soil Type: coarse textured, weakly structured gravel riverbed with infrequent lenses of sand, silt and clay at various depths.
The soils have very little water holding capacity and are naturally low in fertility..
The Vignerons Art
In combination with the low summer rainfall, the soil is unable to provide the vines with enough water for them to survive, let alone produce grapes. Irrigation is necessary, and is mostly applied as carefully controlled drip irrigation. In this way we can produce smaller crops than on richer soils, with smaller berries having more flavour, colour and better riper tannins.
With irrigation, significant crop thinning and careful canopy management our vines show earlier flowering, veraison and harvest dates - higher sugars and phenolics and lower acidity in the grapes.
The human heart and hand plays a significant part in releasing the potential of our terroir at Hatton Estate, as it does in all the great winegrowing terroirs of the world.
References: Smith S.M. (2001) GGWD Launch Paper
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