Murdoch Hill
Murdoch Hill is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery — Campbell Mattinson's highest honour.
Adelaide Hills.
Murdoch Hill has become one of the most important chardonnay producers in the country. The same can be said of its shiraz, and quite possibly too of its pinot noir. When this producer’s wines are good; they are spectacular.
The case
The Downer family – the people behind Murdoch Hill – have farmed the country behind Oakbank, in the Onkaparinga Valley on the eastern edge of the Adelaide Hills, since 1939. This might surprise a few people, given that most of Murdoch Hill’s acclaim as a wine producer has come over the past decade. The Downers are not newbies; their roots in the Adelaide Hills run deep. For a long time the Downer family focussed its farming efforts on cattle, potatoes and flowers. Charlie and Julie Downer didn’t plant the 'Erinka' home vineyard until 1998. Along the way Murdoch Hill has become a third-generation operation: Michael Downer makes the wine, older brother Andrew runs the marketing and designs the labels, and eldest brother Henry is on the board.
Early vintages of Murdoch Hill were contract-made, and good. But it’s fair to say that quality has ramped up significantly as both vineyard sources have matured and, just as importantly, since Michael took over the winemaking. Michael Downer is not, by any measure, your average winemaker. He studied oenology at Adelaide in 2006, then worked at: Shaw + Smith, Vietti in Barolo, Best's in Great Western, and Revenir alongside Peter Leske and the late Taras Ochota. In 2012 Michael brought the Murdoch Hill winemaking in-house. Downer’s style is minimal intervention in the real sense – wild yeasts, whole-bunch, extended skin contact, older wood, no fining or filtration, minimal sulphur. Downer was named Young Gun of Wine in 2017 and has been on everyone’s radar (at the very least) since.
At the 2024 National Wine Show of Australia, the 2022 Murdoch Hill 'Rocket' Chardonnay was awarded the Prime Minister's Trophy for Champion Wine of Show (as well as winning the Chardonnay Trophy and the Len Evans Memorial Trophy for White Wine of Show). It’s not a well-known fact, but the Landaire at Padthaway Estate Chardonnay 2021 – which won Halliday Wine Companion’s Chardonnay of the Year – was also made, under contract, by Michael Downer. In 2023, Murdoch Hill’s The Landau Single Vineyard Oakbank Syrah 2021 won the Halliday Wine Companion’s coveted Shiraz of the Year. Michael Downer has notches on his winemaking belt like few others. He is incredibly good at the craft of wine.
The wines that prove the case.
The wines of Murdoch Hill have been routinely impressive over the past decade, as a rule. If ever a producer falls into the “never makes a bad wine” category, it’s Murdoch Hill.
Murdoch Hill is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery – the highest honour awarded by Australian wine critic Campbell Mattinson. 10-Star status recognises one thing: the quality of the wine in the glass, every glass, across the range. The full list of 10-Star Wineries constitutes Australia's Best Wineries.
