About This Vineyard
Known as one of Australia’s most prominent boutique wineries, Pertaringa offers superbly crafted organic wines from the picturesque foothills of McLaren Vale. The name Pertaringa means ‘belonging to the hills’ and originates from the local indigenous language. The winery has been owned and operated for three decades by two of the country’s most well-known and respected viticulturists, Geoff Hardy and Ian Leask. Their passion and experience in the industry is reflected in Pertaringa’s award-winning wines.
The vineyards in the foothills behind McLaren Vale have always produced some of the regions finest wines, the soils enriched from the hills above and the cooler climate further tempered by the sea breezes off St Vincent’s Gulf, setting the scene for high quality organic wine grapes. In 1981 the Australian Wine Industry was in bad shape. Classic old vines, used to make fortified and red wines, were being removed and big companies were pulling out of the industry. Twenty four year old Geoff Hardy had recently graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College and had seen how the Californian’s were grafting old vines over to new varieties such as Chardonnay.
Geoff formed a partnership with Ian Leask who already had a solid history in viticulture and was then managing the Ryecroft Vineyards. The vineyard was available for sale and this is how Pertaringa, an Aboriginal name meaning ‘Belonging to the Hills’ – was born.