Situated at the northern end of the Margaret River region, the Dunsborough vineyard is where the grape growing and wine making enterprise began in 1977. Erl had been a High school teacher for seven years and a part time potter for 6. A restless energy kept him going weekends and holidays. Moving to Dunsborough from Vasse was about finding space for the pottery and planting red grapes to make a little bit of wine. The wine industry was generally held to be too capital intensive for men of little means. However the land was cheap at only $8000 and our beach side house had appreciated marvelously over the preceding 8 years. With that capital, it was possible to indulge in the luxury of building ones own house, something that is not possible when the funds come from lenders.

Entrance to the cellar

The Dunsborough site is sheltered from the westerly winds. The natural vegetation is Jarrah and Marri with an under story of blackboys and drought resistant shrubbery which flowers quite profusely in spring. All these plants and trees are surface feeders, recycling nutrient as it becomes available from the mulch layer. The soils are extremely ancient and heavily leached exhibiting a sandy gravel over dense kaolonitic clays generally within a metre of the surface. Lateritic ironstone perches on the ridges. There is some alluvial wash in the valleys which have been partly filled with clayey sands when the sea was higher than it is today. These soils have taught us the value of mulching.

Of the 50 acres, only 17 have been planted, the rest is in its original bush state, a refuge for kangaroos. When the vines were planted it was generally held that Cabernet Sauvignon and Rhine Riesling, were the 'premium varieties' and that was what should be planted. Erl planted Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and the newly available Merlot. The first Merlot released was judged the best light bodied red wine at the Sheraton Awards of 1984 and started a string of successes with that variety in the Perth Royal show. A run of awards for early Ports led to the planting of the Portuguese varieties Touriga, Souzao and Tinta Cao. John Gladstones had recommended the planting of the Muscat a Petit Grains because he considered that ripening temperatures would be very similar to the Frontignan area in the South of France. Presented with the first wine he suggested we call it Garnet because of the resemblance of its colour to that of the garnet stone.

The children's playground

Although Erl's passion was for dry red wine, his wife Ros suggested that a small volume of white might be in order. Thus encouraged (a rare dispensation from a wife with the almost complete responsibility for three young children) he planted Chardonnay. Verdelho was planted because of the enthusiasm of Barry Thompson, vineyard manager at Sandalford for that variety. When a sweet Verdelho took out a Sheraton gold medal, the Happs late picked style was established.The light pink wine Fuchsia has been hugely successful in Western Australia. It is produced from the reds grown in Dunsborough.

As the business grew, we made wine for other vineyards and took their surplus grapes. It helped to keep up the supply of white wines when reds were languishing. In today's red wine boom it is hard to imagine that not very long ago, reds were hard to sell. Experiments with nouveau styles of red wine ultimately led to the production of the preservative free PF Red. PF White came later with the insistence of eldest son Myles who, working in the Sydney market, predicted its success.

The ridge above Dunsborough is presently the home of the winery, the cellar door and the pottery. We overlook the wide sweep of Geographe Bay. The buildings were constructed using materials close to hand, substituting labour for capital wherever possible. Extensive use was made of adobe brick and sliding form concrete, a technique that had been used by dairy farmers to build their dairies, and some farmers’ homes back in the fifties.