Levantine Hill Estate

This is the most ambitious project in the Yarra Valley since the establishment of Domaine Chandon a quarter of a century ago. It is the venture of Lebanese-born Elias (Eli) Jreissati and wife Colleen, Eli having amassed a fortune as a property developer, that business continuing apace. Levantine Hill has two vineyards, the larger and older established by Soo Son in 1995, and purchased by Levantine Hill in 2010. It not only has 18ha of productive vines, but also has a frontage to the Maroondah Highway, and ? at the bottom of a very steep hill ? to the Yarra River. The second vineyard fronts Hill Road with a little over 5ha of young vines. All the major varieties of the Yarra Valley are planted on one or other of the two vineyards, but the Soo Son vineyard is the more important from a business viewpoint. It has provided space for a cellar door, restaurant and winery designed by Fender Katsalidis, who created Hobart?s avant garde, and technically awesomely challenging MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), and the Eureka Tower in Melbourne. The ground-hugging, futuristic buildings, their roof line reminiscent of a stealth bomber, are visible from the Maroondah Highway, and easily accessed via Hill Road. -JAMES HALLIDAY