New Era Vineyards

History

 Gold Mine

     The New Era vineyard is situated over a gold reef discovered in 1881. 14,000 tons of stone was raised from seven shafts by 1887, yielding     gold to the value of 14,500 pounds.  The mine was worked for 60 years despite heavy flows of water, inadequate pumping appliances and collapsed workings.  By 1940 all recoverable gold had been extracted and and mining ceased.

Vineyard

  The first vines planted were Cabernet Sauvignon on the north facing slope in 1988, this was followed by plantings of Chardonnay, Shiraz and finally Merlot, in 2007 some of the Cabernet Sauvignon was grafted over to sauvignon Blanc and we expect the first crop this vintage. These varieties were chosen as they were ideally suited to the climatic conditions of the Adelaide Hills. The vineyard total acreage now exceeds 30+ acres.