Deviation
Road
Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Winemaker
Kate Laurie
Production
3,700 cases
Farming
Sustainable
Tech Sheets
With a fiery passion to create premium bottle fermented and aged Australian sparkling wines together with textural, aromatic wines that can genuinely cellar, their signature style is restrained, elegant and balanced. All of their wines are hand-crafted using traditional wine making techniques and are vegan friendly.
History
Hamish Laurie is a fifth generation South Australian vigneron who has dedicated his life to the wine industry, with extensive experience in wine production, marketing and sales. The name ‘Deviation Road’ came from the road his family’s 40 year old Adelaide Hills vineyard was located on. Kate refined her sparkling winemaking skills spending three years in Champagne, studying at the Lycée Viticole d’Avize and apprenticing with grower producers. She was neighbors and good friends with the Savart family.
Land
The winery is artisan in every sense, housed in a former stone dairy in the Adelaide Hills. Space is so scarce that most of vintage is conducted outdoors. They’re not on the town water supply but rely on rain and dam water and generate some of their own electricity with solar voltaic receptors. There are 8 acres under vine on the estate property, with a further 12 to be planted in 2020. Additional fruit is sourced from 4 Adelaide Hills growers who share the Laurie's approach to growing premium fruit destined for sparkling wine.
Winemaking
Sustainable and environmentally friendly methods are practiced in the vineyard and winery. The environment is protected so techniques and technology are employed to utilize solar energy, drive water efficiency, minimize chemical (to none at all where possible), minimize sprays and promote organic soil health. Minimal additives are used in the winery, and all the wines are vegan friendly. The sparkling wines are low in sulfur.
The style is cutting edge, pushing limits on lees ageing, but always chasing a fineness and elegance to the wines. There is power to the sparkling wines, in the mould of rich, vintage wines with leesy characters. The quality is undeniable. The Altair Rosé NV has 30% reserve wines, taken from a solera (a la Pierre Peters) which goes back to 2008.
Total annual production across the entire Deviation Road range is 120-140 tonnes, with approximately 60 tonnes of this dedicated to their sparkling wines.
