Coonawarra

Fast Facts

  • Latitude:
    37°18’S
  • Altitude:
    60 m
  • Heat degree days:
    1430
  • Growing season rainfall:
    220 mm
  • Mean January temp:
    19.6°C
  • Harvest:
    Early March to early May
  • Chief viticultural hazard:
    Spring frost; poor fruit set

Discover the wines and wineries of the Coonawarra wine region of South Australia

Discover the Coonawarra wine region with James Halliday's Wine Atlas of Australia

Coonawarra’s pre-eminent position as Australia’s greatest Cabernet Sauvignon wine region today stands in stark contrast to Bill Redman’s famous dictum: ‘From 1890 to 1945 you can write failure across the face of Coonawarra.’ For much of that time most of the wine was distilled into brandy, while in the 1930s the South Australian government implemented a mini Vine Pull Scheme, offering all ex-servicemen in the area a bounty of four pounds and ten pence an acre (0.4 hectare) for removing their vines and converting the land to dairying.

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Special Value

Wines considered to offer special value for money.