Kate Hill Wines
Coal River, Derwent and Huon Valleys Tasmania
“My aim is to make the most of Tasmania’s superb cool climate fruit by producing high quality wines that everyone will remember and enjoy” – Kate Hill, winemaker
A simply stated vision from Kate, and one she delivers on with absolute assurance and style. These are excellent wines; timeless, elegant, generous. Dress them up or dress them down to suit the occasion; they’ll adapt and flourish.
Established in 2008, Kate Hill Wines is located on the edge of Huonville in southern Tasmania’s magnificent Huon Valley. The wines are produced from grapes from their two vineyards in the Huon Valley, as well as fruit sourced from some of the best vineyards in other parts of southern Tasmania.
Showcasing exceptional quality and value, Kate Hill produces a floral and classy Riesling, a wonderfully savoury Pinot Noir brooding with lovely dark fruit flavours, limited production of an elegant Vintage Sparkling Wine, and an exceptionally moreish cool climate Shiraz.
Following time spent overseas working at various vineyards in France, the USA and Chile, Kate established herself in the region from 2006, where she took up residence as a winemaker with Stefano Lubiana.
Today, the wines are made in a 19th century apple cool store and packing shed which Kate and her husband Charles have converted into a winery. Being fully independent winemakers, they have control over quality at all stages of the winemaking process. Minimal intervention is the overriding philosophy, something that’s easy to achieve when soil health and fruit quality are so good.
94 Points, 2020 Riesling
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
“You have to love the difference of this. It has personality. It’s pulpy, textural and tense at once. Grapefruit pulp, lime, apple and both citrus leafing blossom characters roll out impressively through the length of the palate. There’s good intensity of flavour here but there’s also a softness. It makes for excellent drinking. You get ripe fruit sweetness and bite at once.”
93 Points, 2019 Shiraz
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
“Tasmanian shiraz 4 EVER. It wasn’t the easiest of vintages but this is an excellent result. Smoked meat, cherry-plum, black pepper and twiggy spice notes result in a wine of both impact and interest. It’s lower in (stated) alcohol than the 2018 release but it feels warmer and bolder, though (peppery) spice notes are nothing if not more overt, in the most positive of ways. Post-tasting I took this to dinner and was most pleased; it’s a lovely, lovely wine.”
93 Points, 2012 Vintage Sparkling
Curly Haslam-Coates, The Wine Front
“Fresh as a daisy on the nose, which is quite the treat for a nine-year-old wine. Green apples, fresh lemon zest, almond meal, beeswax and biscuits, initially everything is so clean and vibrant but then a moreish, rich, toasty flavour lingers long on the palate.”
93 Points, 2015 Pinot Noir
Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review
“Evolving, and savoury, faintly bitter and autumnal, but with a core that is all powerful fruit… the dark heart beating deep inside this red pumps strong, the structure, the intent, the width all A1.”
