Chestnut Hill is
now an established label. The vineyard was
first planted in 1985, but the story of this
vineyard goes back further than that.
In the late 1960's a young Drago Javor
migrated from his native Croatia in search
of a better life in Australia. Even
though he spoke no English, he travelled to
the other side of the world and was soon
followed by his childhood sweetheart Ivka.
They married, and together they worked hard
to build their new life together in another land.
In March of 1985 they
bought a beautiful piece of land in the
Cardinia Ranges of West Gippsland and later
that year planted their first acre of
Chardonnay and Shiraz. In 1994 they
planted more Chardonnay, with Sauvignon
Blanc and Pinot Noir soon to follow.
The property
runs along next to the Pakenham road for two
and a half kilometres and the vineyard occupies
approximately 8 acres. It's quite a steeply
sloped, north-east facing site made up of
grey clay-loam soils. It also affords
great views of the Westernport Bay and
Hastings directly to the south, thanks to
its 300 meter altitude. Drago, (though
everyone calls him Charlie,) and Ivka dream
of making great wine, so they try and keep the
vineyard's grape yield low, thereby ensuring
that the quality of the wine they produce is
of the highest quality.
The future for the
vineyard and winery holds many more dreams
and grand plans ... Charlie and Ivka's son
Mark is currently completing his degree in
Wine Science at Wagga Wagga (the next
generation winemaker in the making perhaps!)
... then there's the new cellar ... and the
tasting room ... all lots more hard work,
but both Charlie and Ivka are good at
that!
