Arundel Farm Estate is located in the Keilor Valley on a rise above the Maribyrnong River Valley.
The farm initially comprised of 640 acres and features a beautiful huge bluestone manor, built-in 1868 by Robert McDougall from bluestone quarried from one of the valleys on the property. The house has 16 main rooms with 12-foot ceilings and ornate plaster mouldings. There are two single-storey service wings extending to the north and south, also built in bluestone and slate-roofed. The southern one of these retains what may be early, even original, stained glass windows.
McDougall died in 1887 and Arundel was sold to William Taylor to become part of his large Overnewton Estate.
In more recent years…
A large number of horse stables and yards were created which built a great name for the estate as a premier horse breeding and spelling farm, with the premiere Melbourne Cup horses being bought here to spell after the big day.
The original vineyard was planted in 1984 comprising of just two acres, with the first wines being produced by Rick Kinzbrunner (Giaconda wines) in 1988. After realising the intense quality of the wines, in 1998 the winery was built and the vineyard was extended to 20 acres with 16 acres devoted to shiraz and 4 acres to viognier, paying homage to the Rhône valley of France.
Following this the Ceccomancini Family purchased the property in 2011 to continue the legacies left behind by the previous generations. Since this time, they have added even more to this property by building a 150-seat restaurant and function space, with plenty more to come…
Cellar door
The latest addition to Arundel Farm Estate is our wonderful Cellar Door where we are offering FREE wine tastings with the lovely cellar door every Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11am–4pm.
Relax outdoors in the front-garden, and enjoy watching our horses frolic over a glass of wine and cheese platter, also on offer is a selection of craft beer, coffee, tea and non-alcoholic drinks. You can also purchase your favourite wine varieties before heading home or better yet, you can now purchase all of our wines via our online cellar door.
The Winery
Arundel Farm Estate wines are handcrafted by our small team with the upmost care and attention, nestled amongst the hills of the Keilor valley.
All of our wines are handpicked and delivered direct to the winey where they are hand sorted, some of the fruit is then destemmed with 10-40% whole bunches added on top depending on vintage. The fruit then gets fermented in large stainless-steel vats using only wild yeast to start fermentation, during this fermentation the grapes are hand plunged once daily for gentle tannin extraction.
Once fermentation is complete, the grapes are basket pressed, preferred for its gentle separation of wine from the grape skins and seeds before being transferred to barrel to age for 12-18 months.
The Vineyard
We have 20 acres of vineyard situated on both northern and southern slopes of the property (97m above sea level), consisting of 16 acres of shiraz and 4 acres of viognier with a splash of Marsanne and Sauvignon blanc mixed in.
Our unique soils are the backbone of the property consisting of ‘basaltic’ derived clay topsoil with underlying chalky limestone (perfectly suited for shiraz and viognier).
Our steep Southern slope is where our original 2-acre plantings of shiraz (1984) are terraced into the top of the hill overlooking the Maribonong river. this is the cooler side of the property and shows off cooler characters with white pepper, chalky tannins and a subtler depth of flavours. We call these the Old Block and the Two Tank Block.
The Northern slope consists of the other 14 acres of shiraz and 4 acres of densely planted viognier (600mm vine spacing). This is the warmer side of the property and likes to show off its black pepper, spice and supple tannins. We break this side into 4 blocks, Long Rows, Short Rows, viognier and FB Block.
