Another husband and wife operation, Deviation Road was created in 1998 by Hamish and Kate Laurie, both with great wine pedigree. Hamish is great-great grandson of Mary Laurie, South Australia’s first female winemaker. He joined his father, Dr Chris Laurie in 1992 to help build the family’s Hillstowe Winery into a significant Adelaide Hills label and worked there for eight years until it was sold in 2000. Kate obtained her winemaking degree from the Lycee Viticole d’Avize in Champagne in 1997 and spent the next four vintages working with her father, Syd, at Stone Bridge in another cool climate Manjimup, Western Australia.
Deviation Road sits high up in the Lenswood District of the Adelaide Hills. Nestled among the high slopes of the Mount Lofty ranges, the forty-acre vineyard is one of the oldest in the area, planted in 1983 by Dr Chris Laurie. The vineyard is high altitude at approximately 550 meters and cool climate, perfect for producing exceptional aromatic, elegant white wines with excellent ageing potential. The Deviation Road vineyard is home to Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, as well as Pinot Gris and a trial plot of Riesling.