Welcome to Stone Axe Estate

Heathcote

Stone Axe Estate

Discover a haven just over an hour from Melbourne

Stone Axe Estate

Discover a wonderful place for nature and visitors

Stone Axe Estate

Walk through our vineyard and visit our open cellar

Stone Axe Estate

Discover our colourful gardens

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Welcome

At Stone Axe Estate, we produce premium quality, single vineyard wines from our vineyard, extra-virgin olive oil from our olive grove, and a range of fruit preserves made from our garden produce.

When planting the vineyard, an aboriginal stone axe was found in a layer of river washed quartz at the southern end of the vineyard site; the black-green of this ancient hand-tool contrasting with the white quartz. The axe is thought to have come from the Mt William area in western Victoria several thousand years ago.

Our products express the character of the climate and soils of the Heathcote region, our commitment to sustainable production without the use of harmful chemicals and our dedication to quality.

Stone Axe Estate is located near Redesdale, on the Campaspe River, in the western part of the Heathcote wine region in central Victoria, Australia. The soils on the 100-hectare property graduate from a basalt plain to the west down to eroded, undulating Ordovician sandstones and clays on the eastern border where a remnant forest of river red-gums, grey box and yellow box trees lines the Campaspe River.

The current property was established in 1994 by combining three seperate parcels of overgrown paddocks and bush. After building a road to the river frontage, a small shed for shelter, and planting 10 hectares of native hardwood plantations, the house was built in 1998. The olive grove, garden and orchard were then established, and finally the vineyard was planted in 2004.

The garden and orchard have been extensively redeveloped and have featured in Australian Open Gardens events on several occasions.

A winery, cellar door and outdoor eating area have been developed since 2012.

Our Pride

Our signature wines

We produce two wines: our Stone Axe Shiraz, and our Stone Axe Anacreon; a blend of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and malbec.

Why our wines?

Grape quality

We limit grape production to approximately 3 tonnes from the one hectare site. The vines are cane-pruned and shoots are thinned by hand in late November. The grape load is regulated by hand thinning of bunches after veraison in January. The vineyard is irrigated from our dam. Water use is focused on grape quality, preventing damaging vine stress in extreme heat events.

Optimal location

The one hectare vineyard is established with North-South oriented vine rows on a site sloping down to the west. It gets full sun throughout the year. The soils vary across the site. At the southern end, a thin layer of ancient, river-washed quartz and eroded basalt soils overlies deeper Ordovician clays. The northern end of the vineyard has very hungry clays interspersed with Ordovician sandstone.

Quality control

Grape maturation is monitored during late February and early March by bunch sampling and Baumé measurement, with taste testing to finally determine the timing of full physiological ripeness as the trigger for harvest. Our wine-making goal is to produce elegant wines with alcohol contents up to 14%. The grapes are hand-picked prior to 10am in the morning and processed in the winery by lunchtime.

HANDCRAFTED WINES

Stone Axe winemaking

The winery/cellar and tasting room were built in 2012. The 2013 vintage and all subsequent vintages have been made in this new facility. The elevated dock area allows the grapes to be delivered to the de-stemmer by tractor, directly from the vineyard. The de-stemmed grapes fall into an 800-litre open-bin fermenter beneath. This allows us to avoid any pumping of the grape must. We typically de-stem about 50-60% of the bunches, and leave approximately 40-50% as whole bunches for the fermentation.

The filled open-bin fermenters are left to “cold soak” for 24-36 hours and the addition of yeast. The pH of the must is adjusted early with the addition of natural fruit acids (Malic Acid and Tartaric Acid) to ensure an optimal level of acidity.

The fermenters are hand-plunged up to six times a day while the ferment is progressing. Fermentation is typically complete by 14 days after harvest. The fermenters are then covered and the new wine is left “on skins” in the fermenter bins for a further 7-10 days to complete the extraction of phenolic “flavour” compounds from the skins and bunch stalks. The wine is pressed-off using a 250-litre capacity vertical membrane press operated by water pressure. This simple technology allows us to achieve a gentle, single-pass extraction. The wine is settled in stainless steel tanks and malolactic fermentation is initiated. After "malo" is complete, the wine is transferred to 225-litre oak barriques and cellared in our "in-ground" barrel store for 12 months prior to bottling.

We use approximately one third new oak each year. Since 2017 we have introduced premium Stockinger barriques made from Austrian oak to our oak mix, together with French oak barriques from Tonnellerie St Martin. Every second year we add a single new American oak barrique to the mix.

We produce only two wines: our Stone Axe Shiraz, and our Stone Axe Anacreon; a blend of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and malbec.

Extra Virgin

Our olive oil

Stone Axe extra-virgin olive oil is a bright green/yellow colour with great clarity and brightness. It shows clean fruity/grassy aromas and has soft rounded herbaceous flavours with just a touch of pepper on the back palate. It is as perfect for dressing salads, meat and seafood, and on bread.

EXTRA VIRGIN

Stone Axe olive oil

Our olive grove was established in 1999. We selected a sheltered, gently sloping 2-hectare site just to the south of our house, as a trial plot. A mix of Frantoia, Liccino, Verdale, UC , and Kalamata was planted to test a mix of olive varieties suited to oil production. The olive grove struggled under the depredations of hungry kangaroos and wallabies during the next 3-4 years of drought and only started to produce fruit in 'pickable' quantities in 2007. Given the challenges of the drought it was decided not to further expand the olive grove so we now have a healthy boutique grove of approximately 200 trees.

The trees are vase pruned and the olives picked by hand over a 2-day period in late May to early June. Given the mix of olive varieties, the pick waits until the Frantoia is ripened to a 4/5 stage leaving some varieties such as Verdale somewhat less ripe (2-3/5). The olives are raked onto mats, damaged fruit discarded while the picked fruit is held in covered bins, shaded from the sun. The fruit is pressed in a single pass at the end of the second day so that all fruit is processed within 24-30 hours of harvest. The facilities and skills of local olive growers and processors, Barfold Olives, to extract our oil. The oil is then stored in 20 litre steel containers in our cellar and bottled the oil by hand for customer orders.

Our attention to protecting the quality of our fruit though the harvest and processing is rewarded in the consistent quality of our extra-virgin olive oil.

OUR PRODUCTS

Choose from our selection

Stone Axe Anachreon

AU$25 per bottle
AU$275 per dozen

Stone Axe Shiraz

AU$25 per bottle
AU$275 per dozen

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

AU$22 per bottle
AU$240 per dozen

To order any of our wines or olive oil, please contact Ryan Condron on:
email: stoneaxeestate@gmail.com or telephone: +61 404 480 434

Gallery - Our estate and gardens

We take pride in our garden and estate. We put the utmost care to have an environment that is inviting to guests and welcoming to nature. Please browse through our gallery to see the shapes and colours of Stone Axe.

Click on any image to expand top full view.

Our History

Stone Axe Estate was established by Heather Carmody and Anthony Baird in the early 1990’s. Heather and Anthony built the house and gardens, planted the orchard (2004), the woodland, vineyard and olive grove and in 2012 added the winery. Through hard work, dedication and passion, Heather and Anthony created a beautiful natural environment. In 2021, Heather and Anthony sold the property to Susie and Ryan Condron. Ryan and Susie, with their 3 children, seek to carry on the legacy established by Heather and Anthony and over time add their own touches.

Get in Touch

Contact Information

Please feel free to contact us if you wish more information about us, our wines and olive oil.

390 North Redesdale Road
Redesdale, 3444
Victoria, Australia

Click here for a map

Ryan Condron
stoneaxeestate@gmail.com
+61 404 480 434

All content © 2019 Stone Axe Estate. All rights reserved

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