Winery & Vintage Info
Wild Duck Creek Estate is a small family-run winery situated 8km west of Heathcote, alongside the Wild Duck Creek itself. David (aka ‘Duck’) and Diana planted the first vines in 1974 and in 1979 named the first vineyard “Alan’s Cabernet Vineyard”, after Duck’s late father Alan.
The “Original Vineyard” was planted in 1988 on land owned by Diana’s parents. Traditional winemaking methods including hand-picking, open fermentation, hand-plunging, basketpressing, and long-term barrel-ageing are fostered, as is the use biodynamic principles on their own vineyards. Duck remains adamant however, that it’s still the vineyard and site selection especially, that dictate great wines.
Second-generation winemaking has flourished for more than a decade through Liam, whose methodical yet innovative approaches merge fantastically with Duck’s eccentricity – a humorous and brilliant concoction! The estate’s passion is to produce extraordinary wines of balance and power that enrich and delight the senses.
Originally just a Shiraz & Malbec blend, Wild Duck Creek added Cabernet Sauvignon to this wine to give greater textural diversity. The grapes are sourced from the same vineyards every year, fully and gently de-stemmed, hand plunged and basket pressed. The wine is then matured for up to 23 months in older French and American oak barriques, hogsheads, and large format vats, as well as some concrete vats for added complexity. Yellow Hammer Hill is a wonderful all round red wine to be enjoyed with almost any occasion. Winery Notes
