The Adelaide Hills region has a wonderful variability in wine styles from a very large area of vineyards. Vineyard altitude vary – higher altitudes to the west and dryer lower altitudes to the east. The high altitude vineyards naturally make cooler climate styles of wine. While historic vineyards were planted, the growth of the region is due to the search in more recent times for cooler climate wine styles.
Vineyards grew quickly from the 1980s and into the 1990s. The resulting wines have altered the perception of South Australia as only a provider of warm climate red styles.
The ridge and valley topography of the Adelaide Hills creates a scenic wonderland and roads twist back and forth as you travel across the region. This means no two vineyards have identical landscapes.
Thus the region is made up of hundreds of vineyards at variable altitudes, different slopes and facing directions. That creates considerable differences in heat and cold and numerous other changes which creates wonderful variability in the wines.
See HERE for details of other South Australian wine regions