Regional info.

In 1976 Brian Croser, an Australian farmer's son, and graduate of agricultural science and oenology, made his first vintage using top quality grapes purchased from local growers. The wines, which included small batches of wine made from Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay, garnered numerous medals, and by 1978 Croser moved to purchase land at Piccadilly, in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Here he planted Chardonnay in this humid and relatively cool climate.

Today, purchased vineyards in Coonawarra and the Clare Valley, together with those purchased at Piccadilly, provide the fruit for Petaluma's wines today. A modern winery was built at Piccadilly, in time for the 1979 vintage, and to this day it remains the production centre for the wines of Petaluma

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Croser's property in the Clare Valley (South Australia) is the Hanlin Hill vineyard, and this is the sole source of fruit for use in Petaluma's Riesling. This is a high altitude (500m above sea level), south facing (which means cooler in the southern hemisphere), fairly dry vineyard. The wine produced is typical Clare Valley Riesling - floral and aromatic, but ripe, full bodied and powerful. At Coonawarra (South Australia), the Evans Vineyard is the source of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for the Petaluma Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. This vineyard is at the northern end of the region, situated on the Terra Rossa soil which is responsible to some extent for the character of the wines produced here. Petaluma's Chardonnay, is sourced from the vines at Piccadilly (South Australia). The newest vines are in the Tiers Vineyard, planted around the winery itself, and these are the source of the fruit for Petaluma's premium wine, the Tiers Chardonnay.

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