Coonawarra Region

Coonawarra is renowned as one of Australia's finest wine regions and is particularly known for producing world class red wines especially Cabernet Sauvignon. Its secret lies in a magical marriage of rich red terra rossa soil, limestone, pure underground water and a long cool ripening season for the grapes. Covering an area of just 15 km x 2 km north of Penola, Coonawarra lies on a shallow limestone ridge, raising it above the swampy land either side - it is no coincidence that the Riddoch Highway follows this ridge as carters sought the firmest ground in times past. This special bright red soil is clearly visible on an aerial photo.

To the west of the ridge lies black rendzina soil which is poorly drained, and so is much less favourable for vines. There is also a 'transitional', or brown rendzina, soil which grows vines quite successfully.^[1] This geological complexity led to many disputes during an eight-year period before Coonawarra was entered on the Register of Protected Names. Being just 60 km from the sea, Coonawarra has a somewhat maritime climate not dissimilar to Bordeaux. During the growing season, there is just 219mm rainfall (Oct-Apr), out of 585mm annually. Extensive cloud cover keeps the temperature down to 19.1°C in January.

Coonawarra is synonymous with Cabernet Sauvignon, full of plum and blackcurrant fruit, so much so that successes with other grape varieties is overlooked. In the early days Shiraz was the most widely planted grape, and it produces some star wines from some big name wineries. The limestone geology also suits Chardonnay, Riesling, and Sauvignon blanc.

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