About this venue
Having a “wine epiphany” has become something of a cliché, but for Lindsay McCall, it led to the creation of one of the finest wineries in Australia. The wine he tasted was a 1980 Seville Estate shiraz, which he ordered in a restaurant one night in 1983. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized that Victoria could produce a wine of such caliber. In 1984, Lindsay, a geography teacher at the time, bought an old north-facing orchard. A year later, after clearing it, he began planting the ten-acre property with vines. He sought advice on planting shiraz in the region, but was told by a local vigneron that it wouldn’t ripen in the cool maritime climate of the Peninsula. Not to be deterred, he planted it in the warmest spot. Those early years of winemaking on the Peninsula were a time of trial and effort. Back in the 1980s no one really knew which grape varieties would succeed. Whilst not the first to plant a vineyard in the region, Lindsay is counted as one of the brave pioneers, which include other such notables as Nat White, Brian Stonier and “Bailes” Myer. And it’s thanks to the courage and perseverance of these few, that the Mornington Peninsula is now one of the top wine regions in Australia.
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