Cabernet has grown in the Barossa Valley likely from the 1880s and one vineyard exists with vines dated to 1892. This is the famous Block 42 owned by Penfolds and is towards the Kitts Creek or Northern end of the Barossa Valley. The total plantings of Cabernet across Australia were tiny in the 1960s and did not catch up with demand until the 1990s.
To satisfy the premium market Cabernet plantings expanded in cooler regions that compared climatically to those of Bordeaux, places like Margaret River and the Yarra Valley. These plantings pushed warm climate Cabernet wines into the background and only recently have smart customers again realised how agreeable are warm climate Cabernet wines. The two heritage companies I associated with warm climate Cabernets from the 1960-1970s were Orlando (Barossa Valley) and Reynella (Reynella and McLaren Vale) and our aim is to offer wines of that standard.
