ABOUT US

 

 

          

               

Vineyard Area :

  

10 hectares (25) acres.

Soil Type :

  

Lateritic loam.

Rainfall :

  

600mm

Elevation :

  

220m

Climate :

  

Cool climate with low maximum temperatures.

Topography :

  

Northern slopes. Rows, N-S layout.

Vineyard :

  

3.5m-row spacing with vines 1.5m apart. VHP trellis to 2m height. Vines trained to alternate cordons 200mm apart. Inter-row is permanent clover based sward, grazed heavily by sheep through dormant period.

Varieties :

  

Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz.
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Duke and Hilde Ranson ended their long search for the perfect property to establish their vineyard as their "retirement". The first vine was planted on Duke's 60th birthday, on the 5th August, 1999. We decided to plant beautiful Riesling, beloved Cabernet Sauvignon (by Duke) and spicy Shiraz. We have planted 25 acres of vines on our 160+ acre farm and are running a Suffolk sheep stud on the remaining acreage. Our entire staff consists of the 2 of us, and one extra worker, currently Sarah. Our story has been documented pretty extensively through our very popular newsletters which are released each season.
Our first vintage in 2001 resulted in a gold medal, the first of many awards including the Best in Show Trophy at the Sydney Royal Wine Show 2006.
Hilde is a successful artist and one of her early projects was to design a tasting area that would be in harmony with the surroundings and make best use of the spectacular views to the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges. The resulting building provides for tastings in a glorious location as well as insulated wine storage and a working gallery. The curved mountain blue cladding is now a landmark on the Porongurup tourist route and fits aesthetically into the landscape.
Duke’s Vineyard is the dream that is now reality and Hilde and Ian remain as enthusiastic about their project as they were on the day they first saw the property.

 

 

CELLAR DOOR

Our unique cellar "door" was designed by Hilde, based on her absurd idea that living in a Nissan Hut would be fun, if only you could hang pictures on those curved walls! The distinctive curved roof areas are the results. We approached builders who seemed to put it in the "too different"/ "too hard" basket. Finally, in 2002, we put the pad down ourselves, with a little help from our friends. (These friends have been fabulous over the years, what would we do without them?)

The front houses our public areas, the bar, Hilde's Gallery at Duke's, the office and our highly praised loos. The remainder of the main "shed" is our wine storage area, insulated to keep our wines at optimum temperature all year round. The back veranda with its triple curved roof acts a music shell at festival times.