German del Rio was born in 1920 in San Cristobal de Valdueza, in the northern mountainous region of Spain, near the border with Portugal. The family had blocks of vines grown on the steep slopes below the village, and the fruit was sold to Rioja, the Spanish equivalent to Penfolds. German migrated to Australia, and three generations have since shared in the Australian experience.

Gus and Esther del Rio with their 3 sons Andres, Joshua and Marcus purchased the property in 1994 and the first vines were planted in 1996. 14 hectares of the 104 hectare property are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Marsanne.

The site at Mt Anakie has proven to be a challenge in establishing a modern vineyard. The tall trellis system is tested by the strong winds. The anchorages of this system relies on end assemblies which have often required drilling into volcanic rock. The soil ranges from rich, black volcanic soil to grey alluvial with a granitic sand base. It is exposed to strong winds from the south west, and hot winds from the north west.

The Anakie area has a continental climate and enjoys a modest rainfall of less than 500 mm. The climate helps to provide prolonged ripening conditions, resulting in low disease, and allows control of the canopy through drip irrigation. Special care is given to vine trellising and canopy management to maximise the fruit quality for each vintage.

The 2000 release was the first commercial vintage. Since then our wines have been awarded many medals. Our 2002 Reserve Pinot Noir OKK has been our most successful wine to date receiving the Trophy for Best Pinot Noir (Older Vintages) at the International Cool Climate Wine Show (click here to read more), Gold Medal and the Trophy for Best Red Wine at the Geelong 2003 Wine Show, Bronze Medal Sydney Royal Wine Show 2004 and the Silver Medal at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show 2004.

The development of a wine making facility on site started in late 2003 and was completed in time for Vintage 2004 . (See diary for more details and photos.) The new winery has allowed fruit to be picked and processed in small batches. This flexibility has allowed for greater detail to be paid to optimize the timing of picking fruit and how it can be processed. In 2007 full bottling and labelling equipment was installed on site.

The vines are now 11 years old and we have kept yields to 50-90 tonnes per annum producing 4,000 to 6,000 cases per annum. We can comfortably process over 150 tonnes and have tank space to hold this. The large range of small tanks allows individual parcels of wines to be processed and kept separate. French oak barriques are almost exclusively used.