Happs Three Hills
The Happs Three Hills vineyard lies on the extreme south-western tip of Western Australia some 10km from both the Southern and the Indian Oceans.
The nearest settlement is Karridale, a two-shop crossroads hamlet serving a quiet rural community near the retirement and holiday resort of Augusta. To the North is the village of Margaret River.
The Three Hills Estate comprises 135 hectares with some 23 hectares planted to red grape varieties and 14 to white.
Two creeks dissect the property into three hills. These hills are part of the eastern edge of the Leeuwin Naturaliste Ridge, the resistant granite block that rebuffs the long swells of the Indian Ocean. The soils are derived from Granites.
The decision to plant the Three Hills vineyard was based upon the observation that the thermometer in the closely located Leeuwin lighthouse commonly sees only two days of temperatures over 30 degrees in any one year.
The purchase of Three Hills in 1994 was the culmination of a search for a property and an environment that would ‘produce the goods’ that began in 1990.
Research indicated the value of its climatic characteristics in conserving grape flavour. Ripening with a lower heat-load in the vital pre vintage period enables incredibly rich flavours and naturally balanced wines from a very wide range of grape varieties.
A deliberate decision was made to release only the best wines from the best years under the Three Hills Label. Plantings were designed to maximise fruit and leaf exposure.
It is a vineyard designed for the vines rather than the tractor. There is absolutely no compromise of quality to achieve other ends. Yields are limited to 10 tons to the hectare. This can only be achieved with some varieties by heavy fruit thinning at verasion.
