Having reached the point where they can stretch their wings beyond the Rayner vineyard, we’re now beginning to see just how high Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly can fly. In 2019, they released the first Higher Springs Grenache–a single vineyard wine from old bush vines in the lofty hills of Blewitt Springs–and a Shiraz from Hickinbotham Vineyard’s steep, sculpted terraces followed in 2022. These premium wines now fall under the evocatively named Hope Springs Eternal range, inspired by The Pleasure of Hope, a poem by Alexander Pope.“It’s a reference to the eternal strive for excellence or even perfection,” Andre told us. “Year in and year out, we’re trying to achieve that impossible dream of making the perfect wine.” For Bondar, altitude is key to making the fine, elegant, structured wines he has in his mind’s eye. He looked to Blewitt Springs and Clarendon, areas further inland with elevated vineyards that experience large diurnal swings. Longer hang times and more moderate ripening deliver fruit of concentration, complexity and, critically, high natural acidity. “From these sites, we get all the flavour and power of the region, but with better tannins and a finer frame.”Andre has worked with Sue Trott’s Wilpena Vineyard in Blewitt Springs for almost 10 years. This steep, serene site is home to 1950s planted bush vines, dry grown in the region’s deep, beach sand soils. “This is proper dress circle Blewitt Springs,” Andre says, “the view is boundless, and you think, this place can’t not make great wine.” The Hickinbotham site in Clarendon is equally striking: steeply terraced with biodynamically managed 50+-year-old vines anchored in soils rich in iron and rocks. It’s a site that reminds him of the great European vineyards he’s visited. The 2023 season was another cool, protracted vintage in McLaren Vale: conditions that fit the Bondar style like a glove. Long hang times and ideal rainfalls provided model conditions to chase down the velvety elegance, lively freshness, and heightened structure Bondar and Kelly have set their hearts on. In the right hands, marginal viticulture can produce magnificent wines; this year’s releases are proof of that. And, McLaren Vale hardly has a safer pair of hands than Andre Bondar. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast;Man never Is, but always To be blest.The soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home,Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man