Hope Springs Eternal is a focused new chapter for Bondar – driven by a clear ambition: to craft elegant, age-worthy wines from vineyard sites they believe sit among the very best for each variety in South Australia.
The 2024 vintage second release builds on that vision with three finely tuned expressions, including a first turn for the HSE Chardonnay.
Across the range, the philosophy remains consistent: thoughtful site selection, restrained winemaking, and a commitment to wines that speak clearly of place while rewarding time in the cellar.
Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Grenache 2024
Trott vineyard, ’52-planted bush vines, about 60% whole bunch with a very gentle extraction, matured in seasoned Austrian oak, ceramic and sandstone amphora. The Trott vineyard often throws darker fruits and moodier florals, and they’re here, yet the core remains red fruited and the structure is agreeably tense, a conduit for the twin charge of acidity and silty, chewy tannins. The high whole-bunch component builds that tannin, plus adds spice, but is also discreet. Wild raspberry, sour black and red cherry, redcurrant gel, goji, rosehip tea, orange poached rhubarb. It’s a wine of deep intrigue rather than easy pleasures, savoury, structurally corded, far from difficult, but a wine to age, as is the intent. 97 points – Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Shiraz 2024
From the Hickinbotham vineyard, with these vines planted in 1971 to red soils studded with ironstone. It’s an elevated, relatively cool site and certified biodynamic. This was fermented mostly as whole bunches, with a long élevage of almost two years in an old, thick-walled demi-muid. Yes, just one, with 600 bottles produced. Dark plum, blackberry, concentrated yet savoury raspberry and preserved sour cherry, wild-fruited, agreeably tart in profile. There’s a compactness here, a finely packed spiciness, a graphitic and almost granitic mineral quality, dried herbs, tobacco and a twiggy snap in the background. Refinement reigns, like the grenache in the range, with time the key, though abundant air reveals layer after layer of subtle detail. A wine of real cellar potential. 96+ points – Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
Bondar Hope Springs Eternal Chardonnay 2024
A new wine in this lineup, from Bowyer Ridge vineyard, Lobethal, at over 500m. Three barriques, two older, one second fill, with full mlf. This needs a little time, with winemaking tricks pleasingly absent, but the acidity is coiled, crimping in flavour, of which there is ample, and texture. Time will heal. Cool nectarine, moving into ripeness, lemon, green pear, a stone fruit-kernel nuttiness, fig leaf, faint traces of oak spice. There’s a little creaminess, a crème brûlée note, appealingly fine pithiness and then the acid drive. The length is impressive. Just give this a year or so to bring out its best – it will be interesting to see its arc. 95+ points – Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
