The Drink shop have some excellent wine from the Leabrook Estate

Leabrook Estate wines at TheDrinkShop

Leabrook Estate


Leabrook Estate is a family-owned boutique winery located in the cool climate Adelaide Hills at Balhannah in South Australia. From an engineering background and having made wine for 30 years, Colin Best is the winemaker and grapegrower. His wife, Chris, manages the marketing and sales for the company.

Leabrook Estate specialises in high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and produces wines from a range of other cool climate varieties including Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

The story of Leabrook Estate started in 1978 when at dinner parties, Colin and Chris tried Burgundian wines. They instantly fell in love with these wine as they had an "extra dimension of elegance and intensity". They began to study the wines and origin and in 1989 they decided to visit Burgundy for a week, a life-changing experience. On their return to Australia they decided that the amateur winemaking they they had been practising for 20 years was not enough and that they should began to create a Burgundian lifestyle for themselves in South Australia.

The Vineyard

The Leabrook Estate vineyard lies in the Onkaparinga Valley in the Eastern area of the Adelaide Hills. The climate is well suited to most cool climate varieties and ripening is usually reliable, provided the fruit is exposed to light and there is no over cropping. It lies on a gentle slope with relatively shallow soils. The soil profile consists of clays over dolomite and is reasonably well drained. The vineyard is protected from the prevailing winds causing good fruit set from flowering.

The vines are grown on their own rootstock and are planted on a 1.2 metre grid to provide competition and control vigour. Close spacing of vines requires heavy pruning, resulting in extremely low yields and consequentially intensive grape fruit flavours. The narrow rows are hedge pruned in the growing season and are trained with adjustable trellis wines to ensure all growth is vertical and does not shade the fruit.

Hedge pruning exposes the fruit to light, necessary to achieve grapes of the highest quality. If the season has been too favourable for the vine, and foliage is excessive, workers are dispatched to the vineyard prior to harvest, plucking leaves from around the bunches to expose the fruit, and cutting away excessive growth. Fruit quality can also be affected by other factors. All Leabrook Estate vineyards are netted to minimise bird damage. A large fan has been installed in the lower lying frost prone area of the vineyard to circulate air on frosty mornings and protect the young growing shoots.

Leabrook Estate's policy is to achieve the best possible quality fruit. Vines are stressed with water levels kept to the minimum, while still providing healthy leaves to aid ripening. Spraying for mildew are kept to the very minimum; pesticide sprays are non existent, relying on natural predators to control pests.

Picking time is a very complex affair. Up to 30 small batches of grapes are sampled and tested for taste and physical characteristics from the 2 hectare vineyard, and a picking strategy is developed over several weeks to provide the particular flavour profile designed for Leabrook Estate Wines.

All fruit is hand picked with any damaged or unripe fruit discarded in the vineyard and during a final sorting during the crushing process at the winery. Great care is taken during picking and transportation such that the fruit arrives at the winery in exactly the same condition as existed on the vine. A small group of pickers are employed to ensure a constant flow of fruit from the vineyard to the winery for immediate processing.

The same care extends through the winemaking process, when only gentle crushing is performed and there is no rough pumping of must, relying only on gravity to take the grapes into their fermentation stage.

LEABROOK ESTATE - Cabernet Franc 2003

Grape Type: Cabernet Franc.
ABV: 14.5%.
Tasting Notes: The wine rich, mouth filling and fruit driven, not overpowered by oak and having mid palate fullness, a characteristic of the variety, and firm, fine tannins balancing the rich smoothness evident at this very early stage of its life.
Food and Wine Matching: A good match with any Mediterranean meal, especially dishes with a tomato sauce.

On Special Offer - Was £17.22 - Now £14.92

LEABROOK ESTATE - Cabernet Merlot 2002

Grape Type: Cabernet, Merlot.
ABV: 14.0%.
Tasting Notes: It is important to achieve full ripeness from cool Adelaide Hills Bordeaux varieties to avoid any green vegetal characteristics. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot of 2002 achieved this ripeness and provided the balance of elegance, richness and length on the palate. A classic claret that will continue to develop complexity and mature for many years.
Food and Wine Matching: Fantastic with roast beef and also pairs well with goats cheese.

On Special Offer - Was £17.22 - Now £14.92

LEABROOK ESTATE - Chardonnay 2005

Grape Type: Chardonnay.
ABV: 14.0%.
Tasting Notes: This complex wine will develop well, integrating the fresh fruit flavours with the rich creamy characters resulting from full malolactic treatment and frequent lees stirring. Balancing acidity and structure were achieved by using low yield grapes picked at optimum ripeness.
Food and Wine Matching: Ideal with any seafood dish, even better if served with a cream sauce .

On Special Offer - Was £17.90 - Now £15.55

LEABROOK ESTATE - Sauvignon Blanc 2006

Grape Type: Cabernet Franc.
ABV: 14.5%.
Tasting Notes: 2006 produced wines with intense flavour; this Sauvignon Blanc not only has a characteristic gooseberry nose, but the palate is full and long with beautiful passionfruit and citrus flavours. The acid is well balanced to compliment the fruit, which gives a lingering aftertaste.
Food and Wine Matching: Any poultry dish will suit this wine, also great as an appetizer.

On Special Offer - Was £15.45 - Now £13.42

LEABROOK ESTATE - Three Region Cabernet 2004

Grape Type: Cabernet Franc.
ABV: 14.5%.
Tasting Notes: Following the same theme as the Three Region Shiraz, grapes sourced from the same vineyards in the areas of Adelaide Hills, Langhorne Creek and the Adelaide Plains have been blended to create pure cabernet flavours with a consistency across the palate. The wine has a richness, with flavours that persist and shall continue to develop complexity for many years aided by the very fine fruit tannins.
Food and Wine Matching: A superb partner with game and with almost all red meats.

On Special Offer - Was £20.05 - Now £17.43

LEABROOK ESTATE - Three Region Shiraz 2003

Grape Type: Cabernet Franc.
ABV: 15.0%.
Tasting Notes: Particular characteristics of this wine are the gentle soft tannins complimenting well balanced, mouth filling fresh fruit, leading to a long finish. This wine has gained a strong following in Europe where elegance and intensity are cherished, and the outstanding feature is the clean fresh fruit flavours that do not rely on raw oak characters to add character and intensity.
Food and Wine Matching: A brilliant appetizer and rather special with an oyster dish.

On Special Offer - Was £20.05 - Now £17.43