Where Great Southern Wine Began
Forest Hill is the vineyard the Great Southern grew up around. Planted in 1965 as the region's first, many of those original dry-grown vines are still in the ground and still in the bottle, and this year's releases include the Block 5 Cabernet named Australia's best in back-to-back years. For one Sunday in November, General Manager and Winemaker Guy Lyons brings the whole picture to Cottesloe: the new releases poured alongside museum wines from the estate cellar, with the 2009 Block 8 Chardonnay and 2008 Block 9 Shiraz served straight after their current vintages so you can taste exactly what these blocks become.
"The quality of the wines made from the oldest vines (dry grown) on the property is awesome."
James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion
Sunday, November 15th
Hosted by Guy Lyons, General Manager & Winemaker
Lunch: 12–3pm | 13 wines and 4 courses | $125
Masterclass: 4–6pm | 13 wines & canapes | $55
About Forest Hill Wines
Forest Hill is where Great Southern wine began. In 1965 Betty and Tony Pearse, working with the WA Department of Agriculture, planted the region’s first commercial vineyard at Mount Barker. The first harvest followed in 1972 and the vineyard has now seen more than 50 vintages.
The site announced itself early. The 1975 Riesling, made from Forest Hill fruit and released under the Sandalford label, won 9 trophies and 12 gold medals, and it remains the most awarded white wine in Western Australian history.
The Lyons family bought the property in 1996 and have farmed it since on organic principles, with grazing livestock, multi-species cover crops and compost. The old vines are kept alive by layering and new plantings are propagated from the estate’s own heritage selections. Creek lines and native Marri and Jarrah are being restored, and the Marri blossom helps keep the birds off the fruit.
In 2023 and again in 2024, Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon was the highest-pointed Cabernet in the James Halliday Australian Chardonnay and Cabernet Challenge. Chair of judges Adam Wadewitz called it “a real stand-out for the whole team in the final taste-off”. Today the team is Guy Lyons, Senior Winemaker Liam Carmody and Vineyard & Farm Manager Ross Pike.
Meet the host: Guy Lyons, General Manager & Winemaker
Guy’s first job at Forest Hill was in his school holidays. He went on to study Agricultural Science (Oenology) at the University of Adelaide and made wine in Australia, France and Germany before coming home to run the estate.
Today he works across every part of Forest Hill, from the dry-grown blocks to the winery, with one aim: wines that reflect and respect the site and its history. He will pour the new releases and the museum wines himself.
The Wine List
First Bracket
2026 Forest Hill Riesling
94 Points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian
Although the vineyards at Forest Hill go back to 1965, this one is sourced from several sites. It really is a quite beautiful wine, capturing the vintage, which was very good for white wines, rather well. Spicy lemon zest and mineral notes on the nose are intense. Then the palate, as always, is powerfully defined and linear, with tremendous mineral, spicy intensity driving through to the finish. A classy riesling representing great current drinking, but with cellaring potential.
2026 Forest Hill Block 2 Riesling
96 Points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian
Here’s a wine that captures the vineyard site. Planted dry-grown in 1975, it delivers incredibly intense and powerful aromas of lemon and lime, with spicy, chalky, basalt characters. The palate is quite textured, with really fine, precise acidity holding it through to an extended finish. A distinctive wine, with crunchy, quartz-like characters providing such a compelling addition to the palate.
2025 Forest Hill Block 1 Riesling
97 Points, Barry Weinman, Fine Wine Club
2025 was a more typical year, though harvest was 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. Across the board, grapes were picked in optimal conditions and have resulted in a wine that is stunningly pure. This is very fresh: lime, jasmine and so much more. The palate is so long and powerful, with a refreshing ocean-spray saline tang that rips across the palate. The fruit was picked at perfect ripeness, riper than is typical for Australian Riesling, which adds texture and mouthfeel from the subtle phenolics without sacrificing precision. From the original plantings.
2025 Forest Hill Block 1 Riesling RS
97 Points, Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate
With only 35 dozen bottles produced, the wine is left with 34 grams of residual sugar per liter, and it lays alongside the prodigious acidity that is inherent in the Riesling from this block. In the mouth, the wine is recognizably Block 1 fruit: it has the same sway of savory notes, with wet hessian and clay, lemongrass, kerosene and brine, and yet with the overlay of residual sugar, the wine is more open, more alive, somehow. It is gorgeous. "It will be the same price as the Block 1 Riesling," says Lyons, "but the reality is we made it to drink ourselves with friends. Hope you enjoy it!" I do, very much. 11% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
Second Bracket
2025 Forest Hill Chardonnay
94 Points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian
Generously flavoured and richly textured chardonnay from vines planted back in 1985 and supplemented with some Bernard clones of ’95, ’76 and ’96. Notes of lemon meringue and brioche with a little quince paste on the nose. The palate is deliberately textured, but still with a controlling fine mineral acidity. Lemon meringue and quince paste, with a trace of butterscotch complexity. A nice final savoury edge completes a very tidy wine.
2025 Forest Hill Block 8 Chardonnay
96 Points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian
Power, precision, intensity. It’s all here in this single-site wine from dry-grown vines planted 40 years ago. There’s a steeliness about it, but also a textural feel. A compelling mix of lemon, oatmeal and a little butterscotch on the nose, with a flavour profile that is deeply concentrated but effortlessly long. Fine, crunchy, chalky minerality holds a tight line, carrying the palate through to a very long finish. A super example of a Great Southern chardonnay in a season that worked really well.
2009 Forest Hill Block 8 Chardonnay
95 Points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
Sea breeze-lightness to the bouquet with a whiff of apple and grapefruit - pure fruits under a soft umbrella of fine, spicy oak. A finer profile to the bouquet. The palate shows depth of flavours, a pelican’s bill of powerful fruit, fine, then deep, then fine, but tempered by the steely line of acid. Acid a theme in these wines and a touch of phenolic grip for pucker and closure. Wow, this is complex to describe, a unique but seriously elegant feel here though the import is penetration of flavour rather than a vogue of a racier linearity. By no means broad, but deep. Finishes long and true. This is heavy hitting stuff, with so much personality and poise.
Third Bracket
2024 Forest Hill Shiraz
94 Points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian
From the colour, you think you’re going into a blockbuster, and sure, it’s bold, opulent and rich. Yet there is refinement and restraint that captures the contemporary winemaking style at Forest Hill. Spicy dark plum and dark chocolate, with a little chalky character and minerality. The palate is controlled and seamlessly integrated, with plushness and generosity. A wine of tremendous flavour, capturing this quite warm season.
2023 Forest Hill Block 9 Shiraz
97 Points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian
This excellent block has been dry grown since being planted in 1985. A little more hands-on here compared to the standard shiraz with hand plunging daily. Once again, it has been put into a larger format oak, which helps strike such a precise oak and fruit balance. It’s an elegant wine with bright red fruits displaying some quite exotic spices and a little dried herb. Plenty of time in the cellar will enhance.
2008 Forest Hill Block 9 Shiraz
95 Points, Ben Edwards, Halliday Wine Companion
Mid-crimson; a vibrant and perfumed bouquet redolent of red fruits, sea spray, violets and Asian spices; the palate is finely detailed and layered with silky tannins in abundance; the seamless nature of this wine provides a long, coherent and thoroughly engaging experience.
Fourth Bracket
2023 Forest Hill Cabernet Sauvignon
95 Points, Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion
There is 3% malbec in this wine. A variety of blocks are utilised for the cabernet component. Sleek and elegant, really understated and refined. A sheath of lightweight but puckering, al dente tannin keeping in dark cherry, cassis, alpine herb notes, clove, white pepper and tobacco. The wine does two speeds of fruit friendly and fresh while being earthy, herbal and savoury at the same time. Excellent length, tightly wound and just so darn superb overall. How is this this price?! Ludicrous.
2024 Forest Hill Cabernet Malbec
96 Points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian
Love this combination, and it works so well out of the Great Southern. It’s about three-quarters cabernet from the oldest vines on the estate, with the addition of malbec. So, you’re getting the intense blackcurrant and dark plum notes of the cabernet, with some brighter red fruits and fleshiness from the malbec. It works well. A remarkably soft and supple wine showing generous, plush fruits, supported with quite soft tannins and neatly applied oak. There’s a brightness and energy coursing through it as it sustains a very long finish. Excellent example of the blend.
2024 Forest Hill Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon
96 Points, Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion
This has such beautiful form and flow. A slick, slippery and compact wine of elegant restraint despite the deep core of blue and black berry fruit character, black olive notes, sea spray, sage leaf, pepper and clove. It’s so trim and taut, lengthy and impressive in its carriage of scents and flavours. A masterclass in cabernet, elegance and restraint, finesse and finery. And delicious.