Airline pilots make surprisingly good wine. Their appreciation of the sciences, a respect for the weather and a bird's eye view of the land, all invaluable to the winemaker's art. John Ellis would take every opportune weekend away from his regular New York Paris route, to pursue a passion for viticulture. He planted the first commercial Cabernet Merlot vines in the Hamptons and found time between trans atlantic flights to work vintages amongst the Grand Cru vineyards of La Bourgogne. Ellis ultimately made the great lifelong sea change in favour of our land downunder. He settled on a farmstead outside Leongatha, amongst the slow ripening pastures of Gippsland and established a vineyard called Bellvale. It is now a place of fully mature vines and.. Placing pinot amongst the pastures»

Halls Gap Vineyard was planted 1969, along the steep eastern slopes and parched rocky crags of Grampians Ranges, at the very beginning of a renaissance in Victorian viticulture. Since early establishment in the 1860s by the noble Houses of Seppelt and Bests, the region had earned the most elite peerage, a provenance of extraordinary red wines, bursting with bramble opulence and lined with limousin tannins. The Halls Gap property had long been respected as a venerable supplier to the nation's most illustrious brands. Seppelt and Penfolds called on harvests from Halls Gap for their finest vintages. Until 1996, when it was acquired by the late, great Trevor Mast, who was very pleased to bottle Hall Gap's fruit behind the exhalted label of Mt Langi.. Land of the fallen giants»

Established just eleven years after the founding of South Australia, the ancient vines in the Hundred Of Moorooroo were planted circa 1836 by the Jacob brothers, after accompanying Colonel William Light on the Seven Special Surveys expedition to populate Adelaide's north. Moorooroo endures as the nation's cardinal parcel of vine, the mother rootstock for many of the Barossa's most distinguished sites. For over a century, these sacred vines contributed fruit to the Orlando company, where they formed the backbone of countless spectacular historical vintages. Decimated by the government sponsored vine pull schemes of the 1980s, only four rows of these priceless vines were saved by master Ed Schild from complete annihilation. One of the smallest.. The fruit of vines established 1836»

An illustrious vineyard winery of great historical import, the Kay Brothers Amery property is planted to sacred vines which can be traced back to cuttings transplanted from the original Hardy site at Tintara. Holding pride of place as one of Mclaren Vale's first commercial vineyards, the winemaking practices at Kay Brothers have remained largely unchanged since establishment in the nineteenth century. An ancient basket press, painted bright red, is still employed to gently crush grapes in the traditional old world way. The exquisite Kay Brothers range remains one of the most sensational values in superior vintages of new world wine, the fruit of distinguished old vines, family operated since establishment, an essential experience for every enthusiast of the timeless and enduring Aussie Claret.. The essence & excellence of old mclaren vale vines»

The sensational vintages of St John's Road were generations in the making, the fruit of grand old vineyards and the progeny of families which have tilled Barossa soil since early settlement. The landed gentry along St John's Road represent a heritage of the most distinguished names in Australian viticulture, Lehmann and Lienert, Zander, Kalleske and Schutz. With each vintage, they earmark small parcels of the most exceptional Barossa fruit, to be treated to a course of traditional open ferments and term of age in the finest French oak. Bearing such pious Lutheran monikers as Prayer Garden and Resurrection Vineyard, these sacred sites are planted to some of the oldest clones in the world. St John's Road, you'll be drinking the very.. Brought to you by barossa born & bred»

Established just eleven years after the founding of South Australia, the ancient vines in the Hundred Of Moorooroo were planted circa 1836 by the Jacob brothers, after accompanying Colonel William Light on the Seven Special Surveys expedition to populate Adelaide's north. Moorooroo endures as the nation's cardinal parcel of vine, the mother rootstock for many of the Barossa's most distinguished sites. For over a century, these sacred vines contributed fruit to the Orlando company, where they formed the backbone of countless spectacular historical vintages. Decimated by the government sponsored vine pull schemes of the 1980s, only four rows of these priceless vines were saved by master Ed Schild from complete annihilation. One of the smallest yielding blocks in the land, Moorooroo endures as.. The fruit of vines established 1836»