Vercoe's Vineyard

In the mid-1960s a young John Vercoe toyed with the idea of establishing a wine bar, but it took another 30 years for his interest in wine to translate itself into Vercoe's Vineyard. Together with wife Elizabeth, and adult children, the property on the evocatively-named Sweetwater Ridge was purchased in 1999. After three years of soil preparation, 1.8ha of verdelho was planted in 2002, followed by merlot (1.3ha) and semillon and chardonnay (0.8ha each). -JAMES HALLIDAY