Stockman’s Ridge was established in 2002 when Jonathan Hambrook left behind the surf and sand of Sydney’s beaches and stepped toward his dream of working the land. He purchased land 20 km north of Bathurst and single handedly planted Shiraz, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Savagnin. In 2012 he purchased land in Orange and planted Pinot Noir, Grüner Veltliner, Shiraz, Primitivo, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. In 2023 Stockman’s Ridge was shortlisted for the Young Gun of Wine ‘Vineyard of the Year’ Award. The wines are made together with Will Rikard-Bell.
Orange’s Stockman’s Ridge Wines has released its 2022 Stockman’s Ridge ‘Signature Range’ Left Bank.
As the names suggest, these are vigneron Jonathan Hambrook’s tribute to the French inspiration for the wines.
The ‘Left Bank’ is a nod to the Médoc region of Bordeaux and is a blend of Cabernet sauvignon (60%) and Merlot (40%).
“I have a real love of these styles and wanted to explore them further with our ‘Left Bank’ blend of Cabernet Merlot which has a long and proud history in Australia,”
“The region is perfectly suited to these varieties. While there is strong focus on the Burgundy varieties in Orange, history has shown that these Bordeaux varieties excel. The founding vignerons of the region such as Bloodwood’s Stephen and Rhonda Doyle, Canobolas Smith’s Murray Smith and Philip Shaw have examples of these varieties that have shown to have superb depth, complexity and most of all, great longevity.
“We are hoping to build on these early examples and create wines that will evolve and develop in the bottle over the next 15 plus years.
“We have developed a fantastic relationship with our winemaker Will Rikard-Bell. I see my role as cultivating the best fruit possible so that Will has options when working his craft in the winery. We have put measures in place to ensure this and continue to experiment and adapt in the vineyard.”
The Stockman’s Ridge Vineyard, which is located on Boree Lane at an elevation of 800 meters, is home to six hectares of vines with a planting density of 3,400 vines per hectare. The varieties planted include the varieties in these new wines along with Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc.