The Vineyards

The altitude of the upper King Valley creates long summer days and cool nights, which enable the grapes to achieve genuine flavour ripeness and cool climate character.

Nestled on and amongst the slopes of the northern side of Victoria’s Great Dividing Range, the King Valley has longer and warmer ripening periods during autumn than most cool climate regions, which presents ideal conditions for Mediterranean varieties.

The original Chrismont vineyard was planted at Whitfield (altitude 280m above sea level) in 1980, with Riesling, Barbera, Chardonnay, Merlot, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Cheshunt vineyard, five kilometers away (altitude 350m above sea level) was planted in 1992, with a section dedicated to trial plantings of new varieties that Chrismont continues to innovate under its popular La Zona range, including Prosecco, Pinot Grigio, Arneis, Sangiovese, Tempranillo and its latest pursuit, Sagrantino.

Today, Chrismont continues to maintain its foundation vineyards alongside relationships with growers in Myrrhee, and more recently, the ‘Jacko Block’ in Edi – a Nebbiolo vineyard known to all King Valley growers and winemakers as a benchmark site for the variety.