Why it matters
The producer
Longview Vineyard began in 1995 and covers 60 hectares in Macclesfield. Every Longview wine comes from estate fruit. The Saturno family owns the property and has shaped it around Northern Italian inspired wines, Italian heritage and hospitality.
The range places Nebbiolo and Barbera alongside Syrah, Shiraz, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Longview also operates a cellar door, restaurant, day spa, accommodation and wedding and event spaces, so wine production and hospitality sit within the same family estate.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Longview is in Macclesfield, within the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, on Permamangk Land. The place appears directly in the name of the 2023 Macclesfield Syrah, while Adelaide Hills identifies the wider regional setting.
All the fruit comes from the estate. The label therefore connects each bottle to Longview's own vineyard rather than to purchased grapes from elsewhere.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The 2019 Saturnus is made from 100% Nebbiolo harvested by hand from three blocks and a range of clones. The vines have an average age of 25 years. Four weeks on skins extracts colour, flavour and tannin before the wine moves into a 2,500 litre Austrian Stockinger botti and six year old French oak puncheons for 18 months. Large wooden vessels allow slow oxygen contact during maturation, which softens tannin and adds savoury detail without replacing the grape's character.
Longview handles its other wines through separate, specific choices. Juno Rosato ferments individual blocks separately and receives lees stirring, a technique that builds texture in a dry rosato. The 2023 Macclesfield Syrah includes 20% whole bunches, spends 10 to 12 days on skins and uses 10% new French puncheons. Whole bunches leave stems in the ferment, bringing aromatic lift and spice, while the limited new oak keeps the fruit in front. Jupiter Barbera comes from Piemonte clones 82 and 424 and matures in large Slavonian oak casks and selected puncheons.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range moves from bright Pinot Grigio and dry rosato to Barbera, Syrah, Shiraz and Nebbiolo. Juno is the rosato expression, Jupiter is the Barbera bottling, Macclesfield Syrah names the local vineyard setting, and Saturnus carries the estate's most detailed Nebbiolo presentation.
The bottles also differ in purpose. Rosato offers a dry, textured style, Barbera brings an Italian grape into the Australian range, Syrah gives a red built around perfume and fruit, and Shiraz is described as a cellar oriented wine. The range keeps several grape traditions in view instead of following one uniform red or white style.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose the 2022 Longview Nebbiolo. It presents the grape directly in a light cherry red colour, with aromas of stewed cherry, rosewater, blackberry, anise, allspice and smoky dried herbs.