Southern Vales

The Southern Vales winery in McLaren Vale was originally a regional cooperative, or shared production facility for grape growers to make wine from their own fruit, much in the way of the European model. Built in 1896, the large facility produced wines for domestic sales and export, until its sale in the mid 1990s. Subsequently, the brand went into hibernation. In 2012, it was purchased by 2 local families with winemaker Mike Farmilo at the helm. The fruit is proprietary sourced as well as purchased. The wines are corpulent, rich and heady. Shiraz is the mainstay. -NED GOODWIN MW