Few people understand our fastidiousness the way Sam Cottell does.
Sam is a descendant of the Giles family, South Australia’s horticultural giants. This is one apple that has not fallen far from the tree; Sam manicures his vines with more precision and tenderness than a mother tends her newborn child. Our jaws drop every time we visit Grove Hill, the historic site where Charles Giles set up a flourishing orchard and exotic plant nursery back in 1846. Today, it’s a small vineyard run by Sam and his mother, Marguerite Giles, but all the historic outbuildings, stables, glasshouses and ferneries are still there, as well as a heap of rare and extraordinary trees. It’s a site to behold.
What makes Grove Hill even more remarkable, however, is how few vines they actually have. Exclusivity is their game; they produce minimal bottles of each variety and it’s not exactly cheap. But when you witness the hand pruning, hedging, picking and bottling, when you see the impressive pewter detail in their labels, and when you taste this nectar of the Gods, the price point makes complete and utter sense.
We love working with the Giles’. They feel like kindred spirits, striving for the stratosphere and settling for nothing less.
