Jeffrey Grosset’s love of Riesling began at 15 when his father came home with a bottle to share with the family. This bottle was enough to inspire a young Jeffrey to enrol in the local agricultural college and complete qualifications in both Agriculture and Oenology by the age of 21. After honing his craft in Australia and Germany, he bought an old milk depot in the Clare Valley town of Auburn, founding his eponymous winery in 1981. Since then, through great skill and exceptional vineyard management, this old milk depot has been transformed into one of Australia’s finest wineries.
For almost four decades, the Grosset ‘Springvale’ and ‘Polish Hill’ Rieslings have shown a consistent style and quality that has earned Jeffrey his unrivalled reputation. The ‘hard rock’ blue slate of the Polish Hill site results in wines that are steely and magnificently age-worthy, while the red loam of the Springvale vineyard gives more open and easily accessible, though no less complex, wines.
The six hectare Springvale vineyard (ACO certified organic) is situated at Watervale’s highest elevation (460 metres) on a gradual, mainly north-facing slope where thin red loams are interspersed with shale over limestone. This highly soft rock site insulates the drought-sensitive Riesling vines, which produce compact lime-green, moderate sized berries and bunches averaging 150 grams.
