A brief timeline of our story

1958

Aged 15 Erl Happ, eldest of 3, starts a pattern of taking useful initiative, building extensions to the family home in Ballingup to better accommodate his brother and sister. “We had to save every penny to afford the nails”.

1961

Erl discovers and interest in pottery production whilst teaching English in Borneo

1966

John Gladstones publishes his famous paper predicting Margaret River as future home of iconic wines. Erl’s first interest in wine production is established.

1970

Erl marries Roslyn Jones whilst both teaching at Busselton High. They build a house at Vasse and establish Happs Pottery in their garage and backyard. The weekend business thrives.

1975

Erl uses his long service leave to purchase land near Dunsborough and over the next two years builds an industrial sized sun dried mud brick pottery, gallery, and new home.

1977

Erl and Ros move into their new abode with their three children: Myles, Suzanne, and Jeremy. Erl quits teaching and pots full time. Numerous other family members and other inspired potters join in.

1980

Brick machine put back into use to build the existing winery.

1981

Our first Vintage Port wins Gold at Perth Show.

1984

Erl makes his last pots. The family travels to Europe to explore the origins of the wine industry.

1985-94

Happs Merlot awarded Best West Australian Red at Sheraton awards – the beginning of a long stretch of successes. The Happs range continued to expand into new wine styles and varieties, many of which have become highly successful and peerless in style and reputation.

1988-92

Myles manages the pottery and develops his skill in ceramic arts.

1994

Erl puts his accumulated viticultural wisdom to the test, purchasing land in Karridale for a new vineyard, designs it for hand culture with a radical trellis designed to maximise the efficiency of the solar array and plants grape varieties new to Margaret River. Thirty varieties are planted. The vineyard is named Three Hills.

1994-7

Jeremy manages the pottery and develops his skill in ceramic arts.

1995-2000

Erl researches the match of vine variety to climate with the objective of defining the climatic origins of wine quality. These ideas are published in Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal. Following an invitation to speak in Virginia U.S.A. , about matching variety to site, he sets out to relate the seasonal thermal regime to ripening time so as to predict the ripening regime and quality outcome in green field situations. The method is described in 'Grape Growing for Winemakers'. This eBook also presents a mathematical analysis of vine performance as it depends upon different cultural designs taking into account the capacity of the permanent parts of the vine to act as a storage organ.

1999-Today

   Myles resumes management of the pottery and gallery.

2000

Three Hills label released.

Happs has the unique distinction of winning top of class gold medals in three separate classes in the Perth Wine Show 'mature reds division' for Shiraz, Merlot, and Charles Andreas of the 2003 vintage.

Happs is the 'most successful wine producer under 300 tonnes' in the Perth Show

Happs is designated a five star winery by James Halliday in his Australian Wine Companion.

2007

Happs and Three Hills have eleven wines in James Halliday’s ninety plus category – more than any other Margaret River winery at the time.

2010+

At 66 Erl has returned to the Vineyard with renewed zeal.

Suzanne, Jeremy, and Myles have  become re-involved in the business to provide leadership and initiative for taking the Happs vision into the future.

Exactly what that vision entails will be something for us to reveal to you in due course. Some hints as to projects in the pipeline include a new estate cellar-door at Three Hills; a fresh look and even richer diversity of experience for our Dunsborough cellar door visitors; and of course - a continued dedication to producing wines that are top of their class.

Keep an eye on this space to see our future unfurl.