The setting for Souter's Vineyard overlooking pristine Happy Valley in north-east Victoria provides the ideal conditions for producing classic cool-climate wines which typify the Alpine Valleys wine region.

First established in the early 1980’s, Souter’s is one of the oldest vineyards in the whole Alpine Valleys Region. The current owners have been here since 2003. It’s a wonderful place to grow grapes, with classic alpine warm days, cool nights and rich, stony soil.

The mature vines face North and West, catching the sun. Their roots penetrate deep into the soil, reducing the need for much irrigation. At around 300m elevation the vineyard is largely protected from frost. The vineyard is traditionally managed, the vines hand-pruned and the grapes hand-picked.

We have embarked on a long term project of renovating the vineyard to make the most of lovely old vines. Production is kept low, optimizing the conditions to grow excellent grapes and provide the raw materials for very good wine. An investment has been made in new French oak for the red wines.

We have 4 grape varieties, 2 white and 2 reds. Our whites are a small planting of flowery Gewurztraminer and a larger amount of Chardonnay. Our reds are Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. In 2006, we regretfully grafted an uneconomically tiny amount of very nice Pinot Noir over to Shiraz, and the newly grafted vines are doing beautifully on their big root systems. Some of our 2004 Pinot Noir is still available and coming along well in bottle.

We have 4 wines available: 2004 Gewurztraminer now developing some toasty notes, a generous 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (received a medal at the 2005 Myrtleford Show), the delightful 2004 Pinot Noir and a lively chardonnay from 2005. In mid 2006 we will release a 2004 Shiraz which was bottled early February 2006.

Our 2005 reds are still in barrel. Our aim is generally to provide 2 years oak maturation for the Cabernet and the Shiraz. In 2006 we aim to make a late harvest wine from late-picked Gewurtztraminer.

We re generally open from 10am to 4pm Friday to Sunday. Please drop in and receive a typical, warm 'Happy Valley' welcome!