Adelaide Hills, South Australia

If you’ve ever wondered what Adelaide Hills wine looks like when made by someone who’s spent time in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and France’s Rhône, Sawyer Wine Company is your answer.

Mikey Sawyer has made wine on three continents. He came home to the Adelaide Hills in 2018 with his wife Zoe and a very clear idea of what he wanted to make: wines with European precision and Australian fruit, from one of the country’s most naturally gifted cool-climate regions. The Hills rise steeply from the Barossa plains, dramatically cooler and greener - closer in feel to the Sussex Downs than South Australia - producing whites with a minerality and freshness that surprises almost everyone who tries them for the first time.

That international experience shows in every bottle. Time in the Willamette Valley taught Mikey how to handle cool-climate fruit with a featherlight touch. The Rhône gave him a template for Shiraz that has nothing to do with size and everything to do with fragrance, structure and precision. Back in the Adelaide Hills, he’s applying all of it - with fruit that, in the right hands, needs very little help.

The white wines are worth seeking out in their own right: mineral, bright, and built with the kind of restrained confidence that takes real skill. Everything is made in tiny quantities, which means stock is always limited. When we have Sawyer wines available, we’d encourage you to move quickly.

The Shiraz is a revelation for anyone expecting a big, extracted red: it drinks closer to a Fleurie or a Morgon, light-footed and aromatic, with real Rhône character. Everything Sawyer makes is small-batch, hand-crafted, and built for people who take their wine seriously. We adore it, and we think you will too.

Read more at www.sawyerwineco.com.au