Mount Barker Wines

Mount Barker is situated in the middle of Great Southern, with strong continental aspects together with marri soils and lateritic gravely and sandy loams provided from the granite rock backdrop the region is suited to Riesling, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir.

 Grapes were first planted here in 1859, when original settler George Egerton-Warburton planted vines on his St Werburgh's property  and bottled his first vintage two years later. However it is  in 1965 the celebrated winemaker Jack Mann went to Mount Barker and planted the first experimental cuttings at Forrest Hill which started the Mount barker Region as a premium wine growing region.

The climate of the Mount Barker region during the growing season offers warm and sunny days providing important sunlight availability and excellent fruit ripening conditions, while the cool nights enhance and retain acidity. This often results in the production of exceptional fruit that in turn, makes for a sublime wine drinking experience.

Average ripening period sunshine hours at Mount Barker together with the whole season measure of sunshine hours are nearly identical with those of Bordeaux. It is because of the climate that and terrioir that James Halliday is quoted as saying "Mount Barker Produces high-class Rieslings, notable for their purity and intensity courtesy of their natural high acidity.'