Mount Benson Wine Region
Mount Benson – Click to Enlarge
Mount Benson is a small wine region in the southeast of South Australia, located on the coastline about 300 kilometres from Adelaide, and halfway between the towns of Kingston SE and Robe. The region shares the Limestone Coast wine zone with Coonawarra, Padthaway, Wrattonbully, Mount Gambier and Robe.
The plantings in this region are amongst the most recent in Australia. The first viticultural trials occurred in the region in 1978, with Colin Kidd of Lindemans planting Riesling, Traminer, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon at Alfalfa, an almond orchard located approximately five kilometres from the coastal township of Cape Jaffa.
The first commercial plantings consisted of a 2- hectare block of cabernet sauvignon in 1989 by retired crayfisherman Bill Wehl and his wife Margaret, of Mount Benson Estate, who recognised similarities between the regions soil structure and that of the Coonawarra. These plantings gradually grew to 24 hectares of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc grapes.
Derek Hooper of Cape Jaffa followed later in 1993 and since then, a further nineteen vineyards have been established, spanning an area of approximately 600 hectares in total.
Given the region’s young age, the wine scene is led by trailblazers rather than traditionalists who make elegant, prize-winning wines. A number of vineyards utilise innovative trellising, irrigation and pruning techniques which maximise sun penetration in the canopy during the growing season to give peak fruit ripeness, minimise disease risk, minimise water use and increase water use efficiency. The region is also home to the first fully certified biodynamic vineyards on the Limestone Coast at Cape Jaffa Wines. Norfolk Rise Winery, built in 2000, utilises fully automated Ganimede fermentation management technology which automatically performs operations in the winery to extract colour and tannin resulting in red wines with excellent structure.
The area’s climate is strongly influenced by the Southern Ocean, making this hilly region relatively cool and temperate, with long, dry growing seasons that produce elegant yet full-flavoured wines. Summer temperatures can be three degrees cooler than the nearby Coonawarra region, and though budburst occurs two weeks earlier, harvest is about the same time or slightly later.
