Tumbarumba
OUR REGION
The Tumbarumba wine region is found in southern NSW, Australia around 35 South latitude, up on the western foothills of the NSW Snowy Mountains. This is the legendary High Country, with the snow-covered peaks of the Snowies clearly visible from Tumbarumba and the Upper Murray River forming our southern boundary with Victoria. The vineyards occasionally receive a dusting of snow. There is reliable high rainfall and a large daily range in temperature due to our continental location, (not unlike Burgundy), that slows ripening and builds intense flavour.
Quality
Flavour
Texture
Tumbarumba wines are all about quality, flavour and texture. Our region typifies the saying that good things come in small packages. From just 300 hectares of vineyards, about 150,000
cases of wine are made annually.
All vineyards are family owned, ranging in size from 5 hectares to around 30 hectares, with most about 8-10 hectares. Attention to detail and cutting-edge viticulture from dedicated
growers is rewarded by beautiful clean fruit of exceptional flavour, structure and texture. In Tumbarumba the adage that ‘great wine is made in the vineyard’ rings true.
COLD NIGHTS
SUN-FILLED
DAYS
It is green rolling country with the vineyards generally situated at elevations of 550m to 830m above sea level. Combined with the cold nights and sunny days this gives a climate suitable for
the production of classic Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling and other cool climate grape varieties that show great structure, intense fruit flavour, zingy acid and length on the palate.
The Tumbarumba wine region, declared by the Geographic Indicators Committee on 10th December 1998, stretches from just north of the town of Tumbarumba, south through the
village of Tooma, along the Murray River to the village of Jingellic, and west to the localities of Lankeys Creek and Humula. About 120km away, Wagga to the west and Albury to the south-west are the nearest regional cities, with the town Tumut to the north.
The Tumbarumba landscape is characterised by gently rolling slopes with the mountains as the backdrop. The soils are predominantly granite based, with many vineyards on fertile well drained granitic sandy loams. A number of vineyards are planted on patches of fertile red basalt soil while others are located on slightly more shaley soils.
From the first plantings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in 1981, super premium wines have been produced from Tumbarumba, starting with elegant Sparklings from Seppelts, Hungerford Hill and Hardys, evolving to the wide range of table wines and sparklings produced today. While
Chardonnay is the wine most often associated with Tumbarumba, our Pinot Noir is being increasingly recognised for its quality. Such is the diversity of elevation and aspect of vineyards that the region also produces other award-winning varietals including Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Gris, Gamay, Shiraz, Merlot, Tempranillo and Sangiovese.
Tumbarumba has a long association with some of Australia’s largest wine companies, such as Penfolds and McWilliams. We have a strong ongoing alliance with the Canberra winemakers who make a lot of Tumbarumba wine, both for local labels and for their own company labels. We have one locally based winery. However, such is the growing popularity of Tumbarumba grapes, that winemakers from all over NSW seek out our grapes and this is reflected in the 70 wines in this tasting.
Allegiance Wines
Billnudgel Vineyard
Courabyra Wines
Coppabella Vineyard
Egaline
Excelsior Peak Vineyard
Johansen Wines/Glenburnie Vineyard
Johansen Wines/Mountain View Vineyard
Tooma Vineyards
Mount Tumbarumba Vineyard
Obsession Wines
Wondalma Vineyard
Turumba Ridge Vineyard
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OUR MAKERS & GROWERS
