Coonawarra

Known initially as the Penola Fruit Growing Colony, John Riddoch founded Coonawarra on 31 July 1890 when he conducted a ballot at The Royal Oak Hotel for the first horticultural blocks in his 1,000 acre (405ha) Yallum subdivision. In the same year he planted two acres of vines on prime terra rossa soil near Katnook and established an eighty acre nursery nearby.

Riddoch’s first vintage was made in a shed at the nursery in 1895, his second in the Katnook woolshed, and his third in his new winery (now Wynns) in 1897. In the same year he bottled his first vintage, which was deemed to be ‘very palatable, with a fragrant bouquet; an excellent wine’. Released under the Coonawarra label, the name was immediately adopted by the colonists for their district.

For more detail, please see: History of Coonawarra and Chronology of Coonawarra.