The Hunter family had planted their vineyard and made their first wine before they discovered a direct link to the beginnings of the Victorian wine industry in the mid-1800s.
Tony and Linda Hunter purchased a farm in Heathcote with the intention of retiring to a country lifestyle but Tony's passion for Heathcote Shiraz and for keeping busy, led him to establish a family wine business called Sanguine Estate.
However, it wasn’t until Tony had discovered by chance a forgotten ancestor that he realised viticulture was already in the family’s blood. He was reading David Dunstan’s history of the Victorian Wine Industry and in the 1892 Vine Growers register found his Great Grandfather, Pietro D’Orsa.
What's even more remarkable is Tony then found the original vineyard site of Pietro as well as remnant vines. After DNA testing the vines, he established a small vineyard on Sanguine Estate from a cutting of a mystery vine variety.
As a tribute to this long lost ancestor, winemaker and son, Mark selects some of the best Shiraz barrels to produce Sanguine’s Reserve wine, “D’Orsa”.