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The idea of making wine on Kangaroo Island occurred to Jacques Lurton in 1997,
when visiting the island on his honeymoon with his wife Françoise. They fell in love with its natural beauty and recognised its considerable viticultural potential. A couple of years later Jacques came back to the island with his friend David Paxton, a reputed grape grower from McLaren Vale, in order to find a suitable place to grow vines.

Jacques was looking for a large property offering a combination of agricultural and vineyard potential. The property had to be on north facing slopes with heritage vegetation (Yaccas,gum trees, scrub). Fortunately a 300 hectares property located
in the chosen area with perfectly drained deep soils, came up for sale and with the help of the Paxton team an 11 hectares vineyard was planted with varieties that Jacques has had experience working with around the world. Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Shiraz, Grenache, Viognier, Semillon. Close spacing with vertical canopy has been chosen for all the varieties except Grenache and Shiraz which are planted in bush vines at 1900 vines per hectares.

A modern 70 tonnes winery respecting the classic Australian style has been erected on site. The equipment was mainly brought from France with sorting tables to select the best of the grapes after destemming, concrete open fermenters with temperature control for fermentationand large wooden vats for ageing.

Olive grove on site.

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