2025 Jasper Hill Emily's Paddock Shiraz Cabernet Franc, Heathcote

Lifted and savory with blackberry, plum and red cherry, dried herbs, graphite and spice. The palate is firmly framed with a deep core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity. Earthy and savory with a touch of cabernet franc adding fragrance and lift. Still tightly wound with more to come in bottle. Drink or hold.

97 points Ryan Montgomery for James Suckling, September 2026

Jasper Hill is a Heathcote winery established by Ron and Elva Laughton in 1975. It remains a family operation, with the baton now passed onto daughter Emily and her husband Nick.

From the beginning, the philosophy has been fiercely minimalist: dry organic farming with traditional winemaking in open-top fermenters. Their two vineyard sites are located just one kilometre apart, with Emily's Paddock facing east and Georgia's Paddock mostly west. Both sites are on Heathcote's famous Cambrian-era broken down basalt soils at an elevation of roughly 300 metres.

Emily’s Paddock is full-bodied Shiraz-wine with a small yet highly impactful 7% inclusion of Cabernet Franc. Co-fermented, its tannins may appear green, but the intention is for these to provide lift and freshness to the earthy and savoury palate that will evolve beautifully over many years in the bottle.

A highly individual wine with a proven track record for cellaring well.