“The 2017 vintage was akin to winding the clock back 25-plus years, delivering an absolutely ideal unusually cool, calm and extended growing season like the classic Yarra Valley conditions of yore.

Our usual style aims to showcase weight and body with restraint across the board however the long and mild ripening period enabled us to achieve significant complexity and subtle concentration at slightly lower alcohol levels than is our norm (not that we’re ever really up there with alcohols). We usually track somewhere in the 12.5 to 13.5% range but, for the most part, our 2017 wines have topped out at a maximum of 13.0%.

The Family Paddock wines show their signature structure, elegance and poise yet, belying the seasonal conditions, are still endowed with their usual subtle-building understated power and intensity.

In short, 2017 was a cracker and for a Yarra boy like me, it was an absolute delight to make the wines. For me, the 2017 was one of the top three vintages of the decade”

- Paul Bridgeman, Levantine Hill Winemaker