Heathcote
A narrow ridge of Cambrian greenstone soil running north to south, around 500 million years old, with Shiraz planted on it. That soil is the whole reason Heathcote is a name of its own rather than part of Bendigo.
Known for
- Shiraz
Why Heathcote tastes the way it does
A narrow band of deep red soil weathered from 500-million-year-old Cambrian greenstone, which holds water well in a dry climate. Shiraz grown on it is dense and dark with a mineral edge. The band is only a few kilometres wide, and being on it or off it is the whole difference.
January averages 22.8°C here and the growing season adds up to 1,850 heat units, which is warm, and it shows in riper, fuller wine.
A short history
Vines were planted in the gold-rush era and disappeared with phylloxera and changing tastes. The modern region dates from the 1970s, and its reputation was made through the 1990s and 2000s as Australian Shiraz found an international market.
Heathcote was registered as a protected wine name in 2002, which makes the boundary a legal definition rather than a marketing one.
What your house does to a bottle from Heathcote
A bottle from Heathcote ages at the rate its temperature sets, not at the rate the vintage chart says. Barello's model is the physical one: every 10°C above 13°C roughly doubles the rate, and at 25°C or more you are not ageing it, you are cooking it. Pick where you live and where the bottle actually sits.
Choose a city and a spot, and this line will tell you how much faster the bottle is ageing than it would in a cellar.
This is the same model that dates every bottle in Barello. Open the app to run it against your own wine. Or read how to store wine without a cellar, or the wine temperature chart.
Heathcote in numbers
| Planted vineyard | 1,695 ha | number 20 of 64 in Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Region area | 1,913 km² | 0.89% of it under vine |
| Grapes crushed | 8,529 t a year | 5.0 tonnes a hectare |
| January average | 22.8°C | number 42 coolest of 64 |
| Heat units | 1,850 | warmth added up over the growing season |
| Land in the GI rises | 112 to 599 m | the boundary, not where the vines are |
| Registered | 2002 | as a protected name |
Nearby
- Macedon Ranges58 km south, 2.8°C cooler
- Bendigo60 km west, also Shiraz country
- Goulburn Valley74 km north east, 1.1°C warmer
Distances are between the registered centres of each region, so they are as the crow flies rather than as the road goes.
Where these numbers come from
Boundaries and figures: Wine Australia Geographical Indications register, used under CC BY 4.0. Climate figures are the register's own long-run averages, measured in the vineyard. The history and the tasting notes above are Barello's own.