Could these Europeans have been wrong? In the 19th century, one of the premier wine growing and prize-winning areas of Australia's wine industry was the Moorabool Valley. What? Where?
The Moorabool Valley in the Geelong region was the area where many of the first Swiss vignerons who migrated to Australia chose to grow wines. Was it a prime wine growing site? The team at Rowsley Fault Vineyard believes so. It's all in the soil - just look at the soil cross-section, riddled with limestone.
80,000 years ago the Moorabool Valley was under a sea that covered most of greater Melbourne. The only land above sea level was the You Yangs and the Dandenongs. When the sea dissipated, the limestone-crusted seabed cracked along two fronts, one being the Rowsley Fault line - and guess which vineyard is right over it?
With 13 clones of pinot, the Rowsley Fault team hopes, with vine maturity, to be able to "paint by numbers" and make a range of top quality wines. Time well tell, but it's looking good!!