Our Story

Longhop’s range of wines are produced by Tim Freeland and Domenic Torzi, two mates that seized upon an opportunity in 2002 of salvaging some of the last remaining old vine vineyards in the Adelaide Plains and making distinct wines from that region.

Vineyards were secured, old vines a priority. Our small band of growers have since embraced the ideal of delivering premium grapes in order to showcase the power and rich fruit flavours that the Adelaide Plains, Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills has to offer.

Longhop’s range of wines are produced by Tim Freeland and Domenic Torzi, two mates that seized upon an opportunity in 2002 of salvaging some of the last remaining old vine vineyards in the Adelaide Plains and making distinct wines from that region.

Vineyards were secured, old vines a priority. Our small band of growers have since embraced the ideal of delivering premium grapes in order to showcase the power and rich fruit flavours that the Adelaide Plains, Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills has to offer.

Great wine begins in the vineyard—and for Longhop nothing is more important.

Our vineyards are unique, remnant plantings that have mostly survived urban expansion and the pursuit of other agricultural profits. They also escaped the vine pull schemes that were popular during the 1980s. These government sponsored schemes saw old, low yielding vines uprooted with the help of subsidies and replaced by cash crops of vegetables and wheat.

The remaining small vineyards are true masterpieces of wine grape flavour, weathered, gnarly and magnificent in their defiance of commercial expansion. Hand made wines Wine made by flavour not by numbers, is one way of describing our approach to winemaking. Its a year round, hands on approach that makes our wine unique. The hard work never seems to end but seeing the wines evolve over time is truly rewarding.

Great wine begins in the vineyard—and for Longhop nothing is more important.

Our vineyards are unique, remnant plantings that have mostly survived urban expansion and the pursuit of other agricultural profits. They also escaped the vine pull schemes that were popular during the 1980s. These government sponsored schemes saw old, low yielding vines uprooted with the help of subsidies and replaced by cash crops of vegetables and wheat.

The remaining small vineyards are true masterpieces of wine grape flavour, weathered, gnarly and magnificent in their defiance of commercial expansion. Hand made wines Wine made by flavour not by numbers, is one way of describing our approach to winemaking. Its a year round, hands on approach that makes our wine unique. The hard work never seems to end but seeing the wines evolve over time is truly rewarding.

We often get asked where the name Longhop came from, and like many things it evolved out of circumstance.

It was 2005, just before vintage, and Old Plains was preparing for its third vintage of small limited production wines from the last old vines in the Adelaide Plains. The previous vintages' production of about 300 cases had all sold out to the USA. Australian wine was hot property and on the back of plenty of Parker Points we were a happy bunch. Another small boutique production for 2005 all basically sold before vintage.

As it goes, a week before vintage the phone started ringing, growers on the Adelaide Plains were being dropped by Fosters and creating havoc. Growers were pleading for us to help, we weren't really in a position to do anything, no money, no processing facilities, no time—still we had to do something in support of our close-knit community.

To that end the Longhop brand evolved out of a combination of necessity—that quintessential Australian attitude and culture of helping out a mate—and an opportunity to buy excellent fruit and the potential to sell wine into a new US market.

We made the most of this short inadvertant delivery, but most importantly we provide our wines the time and opportunity to deliver true varietal character—that’s the Long-hop.

We often get asked where the name Longhop came from, and like many things it evolved out of circumstance.

It was 2005, just before vintage, and Old Plains was preparing for its third vintage of small limited production wines from the last old vines in the Adelaide Plains. The previous vintages' production of about 300 cases had all sold out to the USA. Australian wine was hot property and on the back of plenty of Parker Points we were a happy bunch. Another small boutique production for 2005 all basically sold before vintage.

As it goes, a week before vintage the phone started ringing, growers on the Adelaide Plains were being dropped by Fosters and creating havoc. Growers were pleading for us to help, we weren't really in a position to do anything, no money, no processing facilities, no time—still we had to do something in support of our close-knit community.

To that end the Longhop brand evolved out of a combination of necessity—that quintessential Australian attitude and culture of helping out a mate—and an opportunity to buy excellent fruit and the potential to sell wine into a new US market.

We made the most of this short inadvertant delivery, but most importantly we provide our wines the time and opportunity to deliver true varietal character—that’s the Long-hop.