This comes at a momentous time for us in the company’s history. Last week our founders, John & Ann Ellis celebrated the 40thAnniversary of owning our estate, Macedon Ranges property “The Jim Jim”. In 1982 the property was purchased as a bare block of land. The early 80’s were an exciting time in the Australian wine industry. The pair were looking to make their mark on this burgeoning industry. At the time Cool Climate viticulture was just getting started. They could see there was a gap in the market for high quality, traditional method sparkling wine along with other varieties. John had already made his mark in this space by making the country’s first ever cool climate Chardonnay from the Mount Helen vineyard in the Strathbogie Ranges whilst working for Peter Tisdall at the Tisdall winery. Buying ‘The Jim Jim’ was the opportunity they needed to make a stamp on the industry for themselves.
The ‘Jim Jim’ vineyard is situated at 650mt elevation on a south facing slope facing Mt Macedon. The soil is eluvial basalt. We receive an average of 750mm of rain a year. We believe it would be one of the top coldest vineyards in the country.
Over the years the makeup of our estate vineyard, ‘Jim Jim’, has changed. During the 90’s we decided to plant a ½ acre block each of some aromatic cool climate white varieties, namely Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Riesling. Whilst these wines were initially made separately, in 2011 Rob made the decision to blend them together in the style of a traditional Alsatian blend. It was then that ‘The Jim Jim Three’ was born.
2021 marked a major milestone for John & Ann’s son, Robert Ellis, it marked his 10thvintage as Chief Winemaker here at the Hanging Rock Winery. Rob and his sister Ruth grew up, quite literally in the winery, with the winery and their home being the same building. After secondary school they both went off to study and see the world but by 2011 they had both come back and taken over the day to day running of the winery.
