Happs

Happs, founded by Erl Happ in 1977, is a family owned and operated winery comprising two vineyards in Margaret River. Grapes are grown without irrigation and hand-picked. The family practices organic soil management, minimal mineral fertilizer and avoids herbicides. Permanent sward dies in summer and cut once to provide a substantial mulch.

Happs’ Dunsborough vineyard (planted 1977) is situated at the northern end of the Margaret River region, the home of the Happs family. Of the 50 acres, only 17 have been planted. The site is sheltered from the westerly winds. The natural vegetation is Jarrah and Marri with an under story of Peppermint and Ti-tree and drought resistant shrubbery that flowers quite profusely in spring. All these plants and trees are surface feeders, recycling nutrient as it becomes available from the mulch layer. Even with the trees, the roots are very close to the surface. The soils are extremely ancient and heavily leached. There is commonly a sandy gravel at the surface over dense yellow kaolonitic clays generally showing within a few feet of the surface. Lateritic ironstone perches on the ridges.

Happs’ second vineyard, called Three Hills (planted 1994), is in Karridale, 90 kilometres south of Dunsborough and was selected with the driving objective of crafting the finest wine in the world. The Estate comprises 135 hectares with some 23 hectares planted to red grape varieties and 14 to white.

The climate and soils of the south are different to that of Dunsborough. The soils are more recently derived from granites. As far as critical aspects of climate are concerned Dunsborough has three times the Karridale heat load (hour degrees above 71 degrees Farenheit) in the ripening month for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and about twice the heat load for late ripening varieties. The region as a whole experiences cloud cover, brisk southerlies and cooler temperatures during summer and throughout the all-important ripening period, but warm enough to ensure grapes are fully ripened prior to picking.

Ripening with a lower heat-load in the vital pre-vintage period ensures optimum aroma retention, complexity, and thus flavor development providing incredibly rich flavors and naturally balanced wines from a very wide range of grape varieties. This realizes, to a quite unusual degree, the best potential of that fragile vessel, the grape.