James Halliday Comments...

"Mount Barker is not only the senior sub-region of the Great Southern, but was the first to be declared in Australia. If this were not enough, it was also here that the first vines in the Great Southern region were planted. It is large-scale, gently undulating, largely open grazing country, with widely scattered vineyards separated by large distances. But there is a feeling of ‘oneness’ akin to that of a micro-terroir of France, a hundredth of the size of Mount Barker."

The Bordeaux of the Great Southern

Mount Barker this cool sub-region is generally regarded as the most important sub-region of the Great Southern. Ripening month and average temperatures in the established Mount Barker vineyards are significantly lower than in the Médoc, and significantly lower than in the lower warmer Bordeaux appellations such as Saint Emilion and Pomerol. Average ripening period sunshine hours at Mount Barker together with the whole season measure of sunshine hours are nearly identical with those of Bordeaux. 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.

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