Crowned Australia’s Top 3 Winery (The Real Review) – Yarra Valley’s Levantine Hill comes to Cottesloe this August!
We're thrilled to welcome Paul Bridgeman, Chief Winemaker of Levantine Hill, to Lamont’s Cottesloe for an unmissable evening of tasting rare and remarkable wines.
12 wines including 5 from the highly acclaimed Family Paddock Collection including:
2016 ‘Samantha's Paddock' Bourdeaux Blend
2016 & 2018 'Melissa's Paddock' Syrah
2019 ‘Colleen's Paddock’ Pinot Noir
2019 ‘Katherine's Paddock’ Chardonnay
Tuesday 5 August
Levantine Hill - Hosted by Head Winemaker Paul Bridgeman
Masterclass: 5:30-7pm, Wines with Kate Lamont nibbles, $75.00
Dinner: 7:30pm Wines & a 4 Course Menu, $155.00
From the Critics…
“Anybody who ever doubts that Australian shiraz can rank with the worlds best should taste this.”
- Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Real Review’s ‘High Flying Shiraz’ article on the 2016 Melissa’s Paddock Syrah
and ranked #2 of 31 2016 Shiraz from Yarra Valley
“Few new wineries have made an impression as quickly as Levantine Hill. The first vintage was 2012 and it’s already among the best in the Yarra Valley.”
- Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2022)
“A jewel in the Levantine Hill crown” - 97 points!
- Katrina Butler, Halliday Wine Companion on the 2019 Katherine's Paddock Chardonnay
“Levantine Hill – A Serious Play From a New Yarra Valley Player”
- Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com (2014)
Read more about Levantine Hill, their Awards and Accolades, The Family Paddock Collections and the event wine list/menu below:
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Levantine Hill is the perfect merger of two vineyards right in the heart of the Yarra Valley.
On the one side, a vineyard producing superior grapes since the 1990s. On the other, lovingly planted family blocks right alongside a truffiére surrounding our Homestead.
Together, this combined estate is pure testament to the passion and toil of dedicated human hands and man’s tenuous relationship with the nurturing love of Mother Nature.
But it all began against the odds. The piece of the Yarra Valley we chose for our first vineyard was a hill that the experts told us was far too steep and had too many underlying rocky outcrops, making it impossible to plant viable vines.
But we saw the possible. The location was incredible, the soil profile was perfect. So, with unwavering determination, and the use of a diamond-tipped drilling rig to remove the rocks, Levantine Hill began to take shape.
Today, that impossible hill is the key strength of our family vineyard, one that will only ever bottle premium wines in impeccable years.
Rising from the shores of the Yarra River at 75 meters and peaking at 225 meters above sea level, Levantine Hill vines thrive in looking out over steep clay loam slopes, at similar elevations to the Grand Cru vineyards of Chablis, France.
The slopes, amphitheatres, valleys and orientation combine to create a distinct microclimate in each paddock.
This environment, along with the ultra-low yielding vines, puts us in a unique and incredibly advantageous position compared to the rest of the valley.
This uniqueness is evident in our Estate and Family Paddocks range, drawn respectively from our Maroondah Highway and Hill Road single vineyard sites.
Award-winning Sauvignon Blanc Semillon in the style of the finest Bordeaux Blanc and a Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon, reminiscent of the full-flavoured Rosado’s of Northern Spain are complex and classic, yet fresh.
Our Pinot Noir is perfumed and intensely layered, yet savoury on the palate.
Our Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah exhibit exceptional varietal characteristics and the elegance exhibited in only the most sophisticated cool-climate wines.
Although each of our varietal wines draws inspiration from their historical heartland in France, the specificity of their faithful expression of our own vineyard sites makes them highly individual and unable to be replicated anywhere else in the world.
Wonderfully, Levantine Hill’s distinctive terrain has given us delicious inroads into French black truffle production in the amphitheatre between the two hills. The truffière site is in the coolest part of the property with well-drained soil – two vital components of successful truffle cultivation.
Our complete natural environment and winemaking skills sees us determined to express our unique terroir by creating only wines of finesse, longevity and outstanding character.
(Levantine Hill)
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Levantine Hill Crowned Top 3 Winery in Australia
Levantine Hill Estate has been awarded the prestigious number three ranking in Australia in the 2025 Top Wineries of Australia Awards by The Real Review, one of the most objective and respected recognitions in the wine industry.
Levantine Hill winemaker Paul Bridgeman has been crowned a 'master winemaker' by the Drinks Business in their annual Master Winemaker 100 magazine.
Ranked #2 of 31 2016 Shiraz from Yarra Valley: “Anybody who ever doubts that Australian shiraz can rank with the worlds best should taste this.”
- 97 Points - Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Real Review’s ‘High Flying Shiraz’ article on the 2016 Melissa’s Paddock Syrah3 Gold medals at the prestigious 2025 London Wine Competition.
-2020 Estate Mélange Traditionnel Blanc
-2018 Samantha’s Paddock Mélange Traditionnel
-2021 Samantha’s Paddock Mélange Traditionnel2021 Samantha’s Paddock awarded a prestigious Double Gold at the Internationally renowned awards show CWSA!
2019 Levantine Hill Estate Pinot Noir - Best in Show by Varietal at the highly respected 2022 London Wine Competition.
Gold Medal 2022 London Wine Competition: 2018 Levantine Hill Estate Syrah
Gold Medal 2022 London Wine Competition: 2016 Levantine Hill Samantha’s Paddock Mélange Traditionnel (Bordeaux blend).
2015 Estate Syrah at the 2018 International Wine Challenge in London where it was awarded the trophy for the Best Australian Red Wine. Along with the trophy for Best Victorian Shiraz and the trophy for Best Australian Shiraz.'
2015 Estate Pinot Noir was awarded a Platinum award at the 2018 Decanter World Wine Awards.
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The Family Paddocks represent the heart of Levantine Hill - a tribute to family, heritage, and the vines that thrive on this once steep, rocky hill.
Each red wine is a masterpiece of its own:
Melissa's Paddock Syrah — A velvety and expressive Rhone-valley inspired rendition of Shiraz.
Samantha's Paddock Mélange Traditional — Our flagship wine, a classic Bordeaux-inspired blend.
Colleen's Paddock Pinot Noir — Elegant and refined, our ode to Burgundy.
Handpicked, aged to perfection and produced in limited quantities.(Levantine Hill Official)
The Wine List and Menu (TBC)
2024 ‘Levant’ Chardonnay
Aromas of lemons and limes, with green papaya, lemon verbena, gardenia and ginger, coupled with a savoury undercurrent of fennel and flinty minerality. The palate is deep, long and flavourful with lemon tart, lime pith, almond and flint undertones washing over a fine line of integrated acidity.
(Winemaker’s Notes, Levantine Hill)
2021 Estate Chardonnay
Medium lemon yellow hue. Fragrant nose of lemon pith, crushed oyster shell and white stone fruits. Power and density immediately apparent without it sitting heavy. Fruit and artefact sing in harmony, making it hard to discern individual characteristics but the line, length and precision here is what demands your immediate attention. Carries incredibly long and finishes with grace and elegance
96 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
2019 ‘Katherine's Paddock’ Chardonnay
From the three chardonnay blocks on the Family Paddock planted to clones P58, Mendoza and Bernard 95. This is a beautiful wine. It leads with oyster shell and white peach, nectarine and lemon soufflé. Masterful composition with fruit weight and oak complexities skilfully interwoven, currents of salinity fraying the edges of its richness. Poached pear, crystallised ginger, abundance of white florals. Effortless, with great length. The flavours swell and intensify through the mid-palate before a slow and gentle retreat – a jewel in the Levantine crown.
97 Points - Katrina Butler, Halliday Wine Companion (November 2024)
97 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
96 Points - Ned Goodwin MW
2023 ‘Levant’ Pinot Noir
Bright black cherry, summer pudding, cola and tangerine aromas hit to the fore with background hints of cassia bark, shortcake, and white chocolate sitting above an underlying steely note. An intense entry onto the juicy palate with red cherry, plum and rhubarb flavour. Not a shy or delicate Pinot Noir, it is well-framed, poised and structured with weighty fruit emboldened by a base of firm tannins and fine acidity.
(Winemaker’s Notes, Levantine Hill)
2021 Estate Pinot Noir
Exhibiting a fine line and subtle slow-building power on a savoury-focused palate, this Pinot Noir is the result of an assemblage of thirteen individual small batches sourced from our Maroondah Highway vineyard. A light yet vibrant field of colour precedes lifted aromas of red cherries and blood plum evolving to darker notes of sarsaparilla and myrtle-leaf orange. Savoury elements of nutmeg, bay leaf, sandalwood and shiitake mushroom broth further complex with a background shout-out from an underlying stalky note. The composed slow-building palate unfurls with flavours of red cherry, wild strawberry, Campari and rhubarb with a late emergence of pink peppercorns, pimenton and a chestnut meal texture. From the exemplary 2021 Yarra Valley vintage, which was characterised by minimal crops and tiny berries with abundant tannin, this is one of our most beguilingly complex and savoury projections of Pinot Noir. The palate backloads with an accumulation of fine-grained, seamlessly integrated tannins married with a fine line of natural acidity and complexing stalk influence. The wine confidently pushes through the full length of the palate to a sweeping lingering finish.
(Winemaker’s Notes, Levantine Hill)
2019 ‘Colleen's Paddock’ Pinot Noir
The colour is quite light and evolved for its age, and the bouquet and flavour are mellow and forward developed, but undeniably complex. There are forest-floor, earthy, dried-herb, pomegranate and balsamic herb/Campari aromas galore, but it lacks primary fruit and freshness compared to prevailing styles of Australian/New Zealand pinot noir. Intensity of palate flavour is excellent as is the multi-faceted flavour profile and length of palate. An idiosyncratic and utterly delicious pinot noir. It’s probably drinking at its best right now.
96 Points - Huon Hooke, The Real Review (October 2024)
2019 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Intense signature aromas of blackberry, red currant, tobacco leaf, dark chocolate, candied citrus peel, coriander seed and freshly ploughed earth. The poised slow-build powerful palate delivers nerve, verve and drive from the interplay of defined natural acidity and wash of juicy red fruit over the mid-palate with supporting flavours of bramble, chicory, smoked paprika and chargrilled meats. Oak character is quietly supportive in concert with cumulative fine-grained tannins. An absolute classic representation of the suitability of this revered variety to our region, this wine confidently pushes through the palate to a long and reverberate finish.
(Winemaker’s Notes, Levantine Hill)
2018 ‘Samantha's Paddock' Bourdeaux Blend
Deep ruby red core with a touch of cherry red into the rim. Fragrant and beguiling on the nose, raspberry and cherry, wakame and beef stock all shine though at times. Medium in weight but intense in its presence. Dark fruits sit in the central line with layers upon layers of wakame, beef stock, rose petal and sage all noted on its journey. Every taste reveals something new but it is its phenomenal length and drive yet suppleness that is the real story in this wine. It manages a balance that few wines accomplish and could sit in with the great cabernets of the world. At six years old it can be enjoyed now but will continue to evolve positively for a decade or more.
98 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
2016 ‘Samantha's Paddock' Bourdeaux Blend
Developing some savory notes of green olives and porcini mushrooms alongside black fruit, grilled herbs and cigar box. Nutmeg, too. It’s medium-bodied, with firm, finely-knit tannins. Seamless and classy, with a savory finish. Bordeaux blend. Drink or hold.
92 Points - James Suckling
2018 Estate Syrah
2018 'Melissa's Paddock' Syrah
Medium to deep ruby red colour. Dark cherry, mulberry, wakame and musk aromatics. Medium to full weight, dark blue and red fruits sit at its core with cinnamon, cola and wakame notes all surrounding it. But it's more about texture and flow here; there’s underlying power to the tannins but they remain well hidden, with a glossy silken feel as it carries to an impressively long finish. A fantastic wine, showing a different face of Australian shiraz that may be less known.
97 Points - Stuart Knox, The Real Review
2016 'Melissa's Paddock' Syrah
Deep in colour, it offers a wonderfully complex bouquet of musky dried floral aromas, spices like mild pepper and cloves, foresty complexities, and a core of plum and berry fruit. Everything is in superb harmony and carried perfectly through the smooth, seamless, beautifully layered and lingering palate. The balance is superb and it has lovely flow through super-fine finishing tannins. Wow!
97 Points - The Real Review