Handpicked Wines’ vineyards are chosen for their ability to express the character of the region and the personality of the site.

Wombat Creek is the most elevated vineyard in the Yarra Valley, making it uniquely situated for production of premium cool climate wines.

At 424m above sea level, it is a true cool-climate vineyard with reliable annual rainfall of around 1200mm. Mature Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines are planted on north and west-facing hills near Gladysdale in the outer reaches of the Upper Yarra Valley. There are 16 ha under vine – 6 ha of Chardonnay and 10 of Pinot Noir. The soils are free-draining volcanic loams.

From the crest of the highest hill at Wombat Creek, steep slopes of vines stretch to the north. At the bottom of the vineyard there is a spring-fed pond covered in water lilies; this is the source of Wombat Creek, which trickles through the hills, joining Hoddles Creek a few kilometres to the north-west and ultimately emptying into the meandering Yarra River. To the north, looking over dense Mountain Ash forest and folds of green hills dotted with wombat holes, the blue horizon is dominated by the saddleback ridge of Mt Donna Buang. The surrounding forest, fern gullies and creeks are home to platypus, lyrebirds, kangaroos, wallabies and, of course, wombats.

A light covering of snow is not uncommon in winter, when the vines are dormant, but the steep slopes allow frost to drain away and protect the tender shoots from freezing temperatures in spring.