Aldinga Bay Winery is situated on the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia, 45 km south of Adelaide and 2.5 Km from the beautiful sandy beaches of Aldinga Bay.

 

 McLaren Vale Wine Region

McLaren Vale is recognised as one of Australia's safest premium grape growing regions with its moderating maritime climate and long summer/autumn ripening period. This has resulted in McLaren Vale being referred to as "Australia's middle palate" providing wines with softness, ripeness and generosity of flavour.

There are numerous micro-climates within the region, determined by variation in altitude and soil type associated with the various geographic formations. This variation provides scope for the winemakers of the region to produce wines of distinctive character from the different sub-regions.

The ripeness and richness, particularly of the red wines of McLaren Vale have been described by a number of commentators and winemakers, and the fruit has been noted as soft and ripe.

 

 

Aldinga Bay Vineyards

In 1973 the Girolamo family selected 40 acres near the pristine beaches of Aldinga Bay and under the picturesque hills of Sellicks as the site for their vineyards. Recognising that the combination of Mediterranean type climate, fertile biscay soils and the influence of cooling sea breezes from the Gulf of St Vincent would provide an ideal environment for the production of premium grapes they planted Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

From the original palntings on this property only the Shiraz and Grenache remain. The vines from this vineyard, now over three decades old, often form the basis for our Shiraz varietal wines - the concentration of flavours and aromatic characterisitics derived from these old, low yielding vines add another dimension of complexity and elegance to the Aldinga Bay Shiraz.

The Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc plantings on this vineyard have since been replaced with Sangiovese and Viognier whilst small plantings of Grenache and Chardonnay remain providing a unique blending option with grapes from our other vineyards.

In early 1979, on the site of its original vineyard, construction began on the purpose-built winery for the processing of grapes. By December of that year the winery and cellar door was officially opened.

The original design was centered on the production of premium wines; equipped with refrigerated stainless steel fermentation tanks, and utilizing new technology winemaking equipment. Continual expansions and upgrades to the facilities has seen the winery's production capabilities increase to 50,000 cases per year.

All grapes grown on the family vineyards are now processed at Aldinga Bay winery. From crushing and fermentation, maturation to final bottling, our wines are carefully made and monitored under the guidance of our winemaker - Nick Girolamo.

 

Sellicks Hill Estate

In 1995, the 80 acre vineyard development commenced on Sellicks Hill Estate. Situated at the foot of Sellicks Hill on the Mt Lofty Ranges all the best vineyard techniques were employed, including vertical trellising on north-south rows to allow greater fruit exposure, close planting to control vegetative vigour, the planting of windbreaks to protect from the vines from the Sellicks Hill gully winds.

On the consensus that the vineyard was of primary importance, if wines were to reach their greatest potential, minimal irrigation was introduced with soil moisture levels monitored by neutron probes and gypsum blocks. This allowed for both the preservation of our precious water resources and an increase in the quality of fruit.

After initial plantings of Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc - varieties renown for producing quality wines in the McLaren Vale region, Aldinga Bay began their campaign of introducing new and emerging varieties to their vineyards. 1996 saw the first plantings of famed Italian varieties - Sangiovese, Barbera and Nebbiolo. Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc were also planted to provide the winery with a further blending option when making Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines.

 

Kalmonda Grove

Purchased in 1997 and adjoining the Sellicks Hill Estate property. With spectacular views over the Aldinga Bay Coast and the Mt Lofty hill face, Kalmonda Grove was a 20 acre Almond and Olive growing property. Petit Verdot, Shiraz, Tempranillo and Vermentino were planted on this property with first harvest in 2005.