Reviews & Awards

2009 Block 1 Riesling
Complex aromas reflecting wild fermentation of separate parcels from the oldest vines, dry grown and hand picked; an intense, long and powerful display of lime, apple, spice and mineral underwritten by natural acidity into future decades.
12.5% alc. Rating 96 Drink 2030 Date Tasted Dec 09

2008 Block 8 Chardonnay
Pale green-gold; a complex bouquet and palate, each delivering a similar message: very fine white peach, apple and grapefruit flavours in a thin veil of oak; most surprising is the finesse achieved at this alcohol level.
14% alc. Rating 95 Drink 2018 Date Tasted Dec 09

2007 Block 9 Shiraz
Good hue; made from the oldest shiraz vines in the vineyard; a wonderfully perfumed bouquet, with spice, anise and a bed of black fruits, the medium-bodied palate positively silky and very long, the tannins superfine.
15% alc. Rating 96 Drink 2030 Date Tasted Dec 09

2007 Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon
An elegant cabernet, with blackcurrant and mulberry fruits girdled by savoury/cedary tannins; some Bordeaux characteristics; will flourish over the decades ahead. Screwcap.
14.5% alc. Rating 93 Drink 2032 Date Tasted Dec 09

2009 Estate Riesling
More accessible than Block 1, especially on the back-palate and finish, where lime juice and lime blossom notes break free; a very pure and intense riesling, also born to stay thanks to its great acidity.
12% alc. Rating 94 Drink 2025 Date Tasted Dec 09

2008 Estate Chardonnay
Bright green-gold; the expressive bouquet is an immediate alert to a very impressive chardonnay to come on the intense, long and harmonious palate; the wine is built around white peach, nectarine and grapefruit, the acidity perfect, quality French oak in support.
14% alc. Rating 95 Drink 2016 Date Tasted Sep 09

2008 Estate Noble Riesling
Pale green-gold; both cane-cut and botrytised, the cane-cut adding richness and honey, but reducing the razor edge of botrytis.
12% alc. Rating 91 Drink 2013 Date Tasted Jul 09

2009 Boobook Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
A bright and fragrant bouquet with floral aromas ranging from herb to citrus sustained on the long palate by minerally acidity and a twitch of lemon zest.
13.5% alc. Rating 91 Drink 2011 Date Tasted Dec 09

2008 Boobook Shiraz
Bright colour; a fragrant bouquet, then a lively light- to medium-bodied palate with spice and licorice to its range of predominantly red fruits, the tannins fine and discrete. Ready soon, although will hold.
14% alc. Rating 90 Drink 2017 Date Tasted Dec 09

2008 Boobook Cabernet Merlot
Brilliant crimson; a fragrant bouquet of cassis and plum, then a very lively palate with red fruits and just a touch of green tannins. Screwcap.
14% alc. Rating 90 Drink 2014 Date Tasted Jan 10

Top drops with Peter Forrestal   18 july 2010   ($80)

2007 Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon - 96/100

Winemaker Clémence Haselgrove has added a touch of elegance to the Forest Hill wines. This classy, single-site cabernet has softened considerably in the past 12 months. It has dense, opulent, blackcurrant flavours, velvety texture, balanced with fine powdery tannins.

2008 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

….You would be hard pressed to find too many better selections of Cabernets in this price bracket than the ones making the final cut in this tasting. A super group.

This is one of the best Cabernets from Forest Hill. Blackcurrant and light dusty oak with fine-grained tannins. Excellent Cabernet structure with the angular thread weaving through the tight core of fruit before revealing more luxurious qualities on the finish.

2008 Estate Chardonnay

The perspective on the 2008 Forest Hill Chardonnay is as follows. On average more than one hundred wines cross the tasting table each week  and often this extends to over hundred and fifty. Given these numbers it is easy to put down a favorable result for a wine that is not from a mainstream region, producer or style that shows well as an aberration. It is easy to fall into the trap of flicking it into the too hard basket and that had happened with this wine.

This was clearly the best wine in a masked tasting of nineteen mainly high profile mid price range Chardonnays recently. Despite Forest Hill producing marvellous and gold medal winning Chardonnays in recent years, its home at Mount Barker lacks the reputation of Margaret River and Pemberton for this variety.

There are so many wine shows these days that winning a gold medal can be akin to winning the lottery, that is, there can be a degree of luck involved.

However, when there are two or more gold awards, this is not luck, it is consistency. A quick check of the Western Suburbs Weekly “WA Wines Tasted Database” not only provided two prior gold medal point scores on this wine but it had also won gold medals at both The Qantas Wine Show of Western Australia in 2009 (the largest wine show for Western Australian wines) and at The Sydney International Wine Competition – Australia’s (and the world’s?) only major wine taste off that includes food compatibility as an integral part of the judging process.  

Perspective is still the most important part of the many facets that contribute to wine quality and value and there are still a couple of other factors that contribute to this wine’s overview. Importantly, while about twenty super premium Australian Chardonnays that sell at above $70 have been tasted in unmasked formats since mid January and been given 18.3 points or higher, this release and the previously reviewed Vasse Felix Chardonnay 2009 (18.2 points and $25) are the highest pointed Australian Chardonnays that we have tasted in four significant masked Chardonnay lineups since the 15th of January. It was Dr Mike Peterkin’s  just released 2008 Pierro Chardonnay (18.5 points and $81.60)that was clearly the finest of that day’s 28 wines.

This wine is the exception among the nearly one hundred Chardonnays tasted since January in that, for this price range, it shows marvelous quality, dense and very long fruit. The obviously high quality oak matches the fruit in a not often seen way and at this price point it adds a classy and fine knit texture to the wonderfully lingering flavours. The other great point about this wine is the fruit’s intensity and “life”. Compare this with another Chardonnay and it will illustrate this point.

There is one downside to this wine – and this is despite the fact that there are many serious 2009 Chardonnays coming onto the market - and it is that this 2008 release is still incredibly young and will not be drinking at its best until between 2011 and 2016.

Serious wine at this price.

18.3 points 

2007 Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon

Mattinson mentioned that this wine could charm the pants off you.  Walsh responded (via email), “Opps, I’m nude!”, There ended the stupidity - though fair to say the wine is very, very good.

“Not overdone or excessively heavy but sure-footed, balanced and satisfying to the final drop.  Top notice wine.  Characterised by its lovely pencilly oak, blackcurrant-like fruit flavour, and modest touches of sweet mint and herbs.  Light earth and cherry flavours too.  Lots of ripe, assertive tanning and abundant flavour.  A beauty.”

Points:  96          Value:  Four Drops          Drink:  2012 - 2020          Listed in the top 100 red wines

2007 Block 9 Shiraz

Shame we can’t show you a picture of the Forest Hill labels - they’re very stylish.  Dinner - table porn in a way.

“A ‘wow’ wine.  Blackberry, plenty of regional black pepper and spice, quite a lot of positive oak - but the wine is up to it.  Medium to full bodied with excellent black-fruited flavour and length to burn.  Lovely grainy tannins.  A great expression of Great Southern Shiraz.”

Points:  96          Value:  Four Drops         Drink:  2012 - 2020         Listed in the top 100 red wines

2007 Block 8 Chardonnay - Rated 95 points

Every egg a bird so far with Forest Hill and I’ll open the Block and standard Rieslings shortly.  Vineyard established 1965.

A little wild and funky with some struck match and spicy barrel work, fresh stonefruit and plenty of grapefruit.  It’s tight, flinty and lively with strong, but balanced, acidity and a lovely lightly abrasive texture.  Length excellent with a spicy grapefruit aftertaste.  It’s a fine example of being understated, rather than under done.

Drink:  2011 - 2018

2008 Estate Chardonnay - Rated 94 Points

I’ll give you the drum early.  When the 2007 Block Series Cabernet and Shiraz are released, then jump.  They are outstanding.  I must put my name down too, it being my son’s birth year and all that.

Lemon, lime rind, pear and a good clip of clove spice oak.  It has plenty of oomph and complexity with a mix of spicy oak and melon fruit richness that’s cut back by crisp citrus flavours.  Has some savoury lees complexity, but not too much, a strong but fine acid backbone and excellent length.  An all up impressive wine at a keen price.

Drink:  2011 - 2016

2009 Estate Riesling

This is the result of an excellent year and deft winemaking.  A sizzling-hot wine tempered on an anvil of texture.  Flavoursome mineral and salty zing where Tahitian lime juice washes to the fore.  Smart winemaking with a saliva inducing finish.  Powerful, so much so, you could lose a tooth if you’re not careful.  I want to see this in five years time.  Criminally underpriced.

2008 Estate Chardonnay
Awarded Blue - Gold Medallion

2008 Block 1 Riesling - Awarded Gold Medal

2008 Estate Chardonnay - Awarded Gold Medal

2007 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Awarded Gold Medal.

Forest Hill Vineyard rates Five Star Winery

2007 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - 97 Points

Listed in the ‘Best of the Best Variety’    A nigh-on perfect evocation of medium-bodied cabernet, the aroma and flavours wonderfully pure, with pinpointed accuracy to the cassis and blackcurrant fruit, the tannins exact, the oak likewise.  Drink To 2022.

2008 Block 1 Riesling - 96 Points

Listed in the ‘Best of the Best Variety’  Extremely pale; at once intense yet reticent to unfold; superfine and delicate, yet long; tracks the bouquet; a 20-year proposition, 5-year minimum.  Drink To: 2028

2007 Block 8 Chardonnay - 95 Points

A fragrant, multifaceted bouquet, with an interplay between fruit and barrel ferment oak, leads into a vibrant palate of nectarine, apple and grapefruit, the finish long and highly focused.  Drink To:  2020

2007 Estate Shiraz - 94 Points

Has exceptional drive and thrust to the spicy, peppery mix of red and black fruits on the medium-bodied, intense palate; great length and poise.  Drink To:  2020

2007 Boobook Cabernet Merlot - 91 Points

Medium-bodied, bring together spicy black and red fruits, fine tannins and cleansing acidity.  Drink To:  2016.

2010 Restaurant Guide

As you walk into Greenpool, at the top of a high valley with green hills in all directions, the slight aromas of wood smoke from the kitchen suggests a country feel.  But there’s nothing rustic about the slick glass-and-time room abutting Forest Hill Vineyard.  The wood-fired oven comes into play immediately with piping hot olives doused in orange and chilli with a orange of roast fennel and crisp croutons.

The oven also brings out the best in dry-aged Denmark beef and a caramelised lamb rump with butternut pumpkin and goat’s curd.  The crunchy/feathery hand-cut chips with aioli should not be missed and baked chocolate cheesecake is the pick of the desserts.  Wines are all Forest Hill:  the range and quality is good and prices by the glass affordable.

2009 Restaurant Guide

Appropriately enough, Forest Hill winery has sweeping views of vineyards and hillsides, and Greenpool takes full advantage of the site with large windows, high ceilings and a smart feel. The finessed food transcends the casual with clean presentation, and fresh, bold flavours.

A platter offers a generous selection - lamb shank and kidney pie, roast pumpkin and chestnut dip, olive brioche, prawn koftas - but doesn’t highlight the chef’s skills as convincingly as an elegant folded tarte Tatin of caramelised fig with slices of crisp haloumi. Tender chicken is lifted by galangal and kaffir lime and accompanied by crunchy Asian slaw and homemade fig and coconut cake with lemon syrup is hard to resist.

The wine service is excellent; estate wines are served by the glass, flagship wines by the bottle. Lunch in the Great Southern doesn’t get much better.

Winsor Dobbin

Greenpool, the restaurant at Forest Hill winery that is among the top dozen cellar door eateries in the country, is names albeit spelled differently, after the staggeringly beautiful beach of the same name just out of town.

Established in 1965, Forest Hill has the old cool-climate vineyard in Western Australia, and the winery is noted for its exceptional Rieslings. Chef Silas Masih is passionate about wine and food matching; and his degustation menus are outstanding. Dishes include local marron with witlof, persimmon and cumquat cardamom dressing and tea-smoked salmon with soba noodles, lemongrass and green tea broth.

“The focus here is paddock to plate; we are passionate about showcasing local produce that works with our wines,” Silas says.

Score: 96 Points
Brilliant colour; intense and penetrating grapefruit, nectarine and melon; very good acidity and oak provide thrust for the long finish; 40-year-old vines, dry-grown, hand-pruned and hand-picked.
Drink: To 2015, Listed in the ‘Best of the Best by variety’

Winsor Dobbin, Skywest In-Flight Magazine, August 2008
One of a number of searingly good local Rieslings. There are some floral aromas and then the pristine flavours and acid you’d associate with water from a mountain stream. You’ll discover fresh lemon and lime characters, steeliness and minerality. A wine for enjoying lightly chilled, in its youth.

“Discover the Great Southern”
‘Forest Hill is a bustling, magnificently located winery restaurant, where anything from the wood
fired oven is best.’

2006 Forest Hill Estate Chardonnay awarded ‘Best Value White Wine in Australia’
2009 Qantas Mt Barker Wine Show
2006 Forest Hill Estate Chardonnay awarded Gold Medal
2006 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon awarded Gold Medal.

Huon Hooke
The two 2006 chardonnays are an impressive duo. The Block 8 Chardonnay ($35 - $40), from the oldest vines - which are dry-grown, hand-picked and cane-pruned - is sheer magic. Very complex nutty, buttery and stone-fruit aromas show skilful use of barrels, the oak perfectly melded into the fruit. It’s powerful yet understated, youthful, refined and very long in the mouth. 96/100

The regular 06’ Forest Hill Vineyard Chardonnay ($22) is only a whisker behind the Block 8 and has some of the same intensity, refinement and beautifully seamless harmony of flavours: melon, white peach and subtle oak, with fine nervy acidity lifting and carrying the flavour in a perfect line from entry to finish. At this price it has few peers on the chardonnay market. 95/100