Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Indonesia, had six wineries by 2014, all on the resort island of Bali. The industry pioneer, Hatten Wines, is still by far the largest winemaking enterprise, now turning out 1 million bottles a year. It began making wines from locally grown grapes in 1994, operating from an old rice wine factory at Sanur Beach in the south east of the island, but most of its grapes are grown near the city of Singaraja at the northern extreme of the island (8 °latitude). Here, the elevation provides some modest respite from the relentless tropical heat and humidity but climatic conditions are such that the vines crop almost continuously. These vineyards were planted originally for table grapes with the French vinifera table grape Alphonse Lavallée (Ribier) growing on overhead pergolas. muscat varieties were planted more recently and Shiraz and chambourcin have been trialled for more robust reds. Indico Wines, now called Singaraja Hills, was the second winery on Bali, established in 1998. Sababay Wines is the third winery working principally with domestically grown grapes. The others produce wine from imported grapes or must, to avoid the onerous taxes on imported alcohol. Hatten’s range of wines made from Australian must is sold under the Two Islands label.