In 1965 the Redman family sold the vineyards and winery, which, with the original Richardson property, became Rouge Homme as it is today. Occupying about 60 hectares, the vineyards are planted with classic varieties including Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir, with a small amount of Chardonnay. The Rouge Homme Winery is now one of the most modern and sophisticated in the Coonawarra.

Situated in the southeast of South Australia some 50kms north of Mount Gambier, the Coonawarra grapegrowing district is a unique isolated strip of rich terra rossa soil over porous limestone. Running in a north-south direction just over 14kms long and around 2kms wide, it is an island of red soil bordered by black soil, grazing country and sandy loams. A climate of cold, wet winters and mild to warm, dry summers allows slow ripening of the grapes, with excellent development of sugar levels and flavour, and the retention of good acidity. Because of the cold winters and springs, the vines at Rouge Homme are trained over especially high trellises, with overhead mist sprinklers to protect them from frosts during spring.

As custodians of the Rouge Homme's great Coonawarra traditions, the winemaking team continues to produce a range of distinctive, approachable wines which have the potential to develop great complexity with bottle ageing over many years. With a considerable reputation as classic Coonawarra, Rouge Homme wines are frequent gold medal winners - particularly the reds. In 1994, Rouge Homme received what is regarded by many to be the wine industry's greatest accolade - the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy which was awarded to 1993 Rouge Homme Richardsons Red Block.

Mt Difficulty really is a boutique estate, situated in Bannockburn, a unique and rare area of extremes. Mt Difficulty has harnessed the once brutal terrain to produce premium wines at the forefront of Central Otago's wine production. The Bannockburn area is internationally recognized as one of the few places in the world where the pernickety Pinot noir variety has found a home outside Burgundy. Martinborough in the North Island and USA's Oregon are the only other regions where Pinot noir seems to flourish.

The estate's vineyards are owned and operated by the same people who started up and own the Mt Difficulty winemaking operations. The Mt Difficulty brand started in 1998 with a very small production of Pinot noir and Chardonnay. Previously their grapes were included in many top-performing wines from other Central Otago wineries. The inaugural Pinot noir went on to win a Gold medal at the 1999 Air New Zealand wine awards, the Chardonnay attaining Silver. This was a great result for a startup winery and showed to the world the potential of Central Otago for these varieties.

The unique microclimate of the Bannockburn area provides hot summers, a large diurnal temperature variation and long cool autumns which bring the best out of the Pinot noir grapes. This, along with a mix of clays and gravels ideal for viticulture, provides an excellent basis not only for Pinot noir, but also for Pinot gris, Riesling, and Chardonnay. Mt Difficulty was named after the mountain over-looking Felton Road and the southern Cromwell basin. This mountain is a very important part of the Bannockburn microclimate providing shelter from the cool winds of the Wakatipu Basin and Gibbston.

All wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they have to be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area – Bannockburn, south of the Kawarau River – and they are to be under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty management team. The very special qualities for growing grapes and the management of the vineyard is reflected in the quality of the ultimate product.

The area of Mt Difficulty has undergone enormous transformations prior to ever becoming a vineyard. Of all the sites chosen to be a vineyard, Templars Hill was the most woebegone and unlikely: a rabbit infested, gullied and briar covered wasteland that took a lot of work to get into shape to become a vineyard. To ensure the full potential of the region is realized, the winemaking team have a policy of very low cropping levels across all vineyards. Most of the vines are relatively old for Central Otago, extremely valuable in adding extra complexity and concentration to Pinot noir. In early 2001 Mt Difficulty commissioned a brand new, state of the art winery amidst estate vineyards on Felton Road. The winery was specially designed to produce hand made Pinot noir, along with separate facilities for other varieties such as a specific barrel hall for Chardonnay. This facility, along with the expertise of winemaker Matt Dicey, translates the outstanding quality of the grapes into equally outstanding wine.

Palliser's founders knew they wanted to make good wine, but where does it all start? Palliser Estate's environment allows them to grow outstanding grapes to create magical wines. Palliser take pride in the care of their vineyard soils by encouraging diversity of plant life. The winemakers minimise spraying and use only friendly sprays where possible. Caring for the environment started as a notion, now it is an ethos.

The quality of the Palliser grapes are acknowledged as among the best in New Zealand. Locals say that Martinborough is the best place in the country to make wine. Winemaker Allan Johnson is first to agree and reels off the reasons: soil, water, and air, the three natural elements essential to making quality wine. Reliable dry autumns increase the intense flavours, and low cropping levels are produced by cool windy spring weather. Low cropping levels and undiluted flavours tend to create the essential ingredients of power and concentration from which fine, and even great wines are produced. Martinborough is one of the few areas where this situation is naturally imposed by the weather.

Palliser produces two labels that are recognised around the world for quality, Palliser Estate and Pencarrow. The Palliser Estate wines are a strong and distinct premium portfolio, whilst the Pencarrow range is in a different style, and offers very approachable wines of excellent quality. Palliser Estate's wines are served in some of the world’s finest restaurants, enjoyed by thousands of people every day and savoured by international passengers travelling the world with airlines such as Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and KLM.

Palliser firmly believe that they are responsible for the care and management of their environment. It is the unique combination of soil, air and climate that allows Palliser to grow such outstanding grapes for their wines. Palliser Estate have an environment management system throughout the company that ensures that everything the winemakers do is considered on its environmental impacts. Palliser Estate have introduced a new system that re-uses the winery's wastewater for irrigation. The wines are in recyclable or re-useable packaging.

Palliser owns 90% of their own vineyards and invest heavily in viticulture to produce a great product. To date that investment has been paid off by the production of world class wines. Palliser is proud to be innovative in their approach to environmental aspects. In 1998 Palliser Estate Palliser were amongst the first wineries in the world to be certified to the international environmental standard ISO 14001. Palliser Estate are part of the Living Wine New Zealand group www.livingwine.org.nz, a group of wineries all certified to ISO 14001 and dedicated to continuous improvement of their environmental systems.

The winemaking philosophy is to make intensely fruit driven, complex, powerful, yet elegant wines, from the regions most suited to each separate premium grape variety in Western Australia. Capel Vale now sources fruit from its own Stirling and Wellington vineyards in Capel, its Whispering Hill vineyard in Mount Barker, Sheldrake in Pemberton, and Madrigals, the latest development at Margaret River. Capel Vale has grown enormously, and now is one of the few major family owned wineries in Western Australia.

Capel Vale owns and operates seven vineyards in the four EU registered growing areas in South Western Australia, in total 500 acres (210 hectares). Each vineyard grows the most appropriate fruit appropriate for the climate and terroir. The winery's operation has played an important role in the establishment of the Western Australian Wine Industry and the recognition of South Western Australia as a premium grape growing region. The winery now exports to over fifteen countries. It's been an amazing journey from a few vines and a small tin shed!

The Whispering Hill vineyard is the most southern at Mount Barker, followed by Sheldrake at Pemberton, Madrigals at Margaret River and Stirling and Wellington at Capel in the increasingly recognised region of Geographe. All wine produced by Capel Vale is made at the winery on the Stirling Estate in Capel.

Capel Vale's vineyards in the Geographe region consist of Capel Stirling 1, Capel Stirling 2 and Capel Wellington, eighty acres in total. The first vines were planted on the Stirling Estate vineyard in 1974. The winery, bottling line, warehouse, tasting cellar and restaurant are now all located on this property. The vineyards are named after the original Capel shire subdivisions. The Stirling area being one of the earliest surveyed areas in the state, deriving its name from Captain James Stirling, the founding father of modern Western Australia.

The Pemberton area is enjoying increasing acclaim as a premium cool climate viticultural region producing elegant flavours and wines of note. Capel Vale's Sheldrake Vineyard was planted in the winter of 1995 to initially supplement and ultimately replace fruit sourced from the Pemberton region. The name 'Sheldrake' seemed a natural progression from our emblem, the Shelduck. The vineyards here support superb varietal vines.