Rich in heritage, Katnook lies in the heart of the fabled Coonawarra wine region, South Australia, home to some of Australia’s best Terra Rossa vineyards. Our history stretches back to 1867, after Scottish immigrant John Riddoch arrived at Penola in South Australia and purchased parcels of land throughout Coonawarra, impressed with the remarkable rate of growth of fruit trees and vines in the area, and commissioned the building of his ‘Woolshed’ which still stands today at Katnook.
Riddoch planted 140 acres of vines and his first vintage in 1895 was a modest event in a neighbouring nursery shed. However, his second, with a much greater volume of fruit and attended to by qualified winemaker William Salter was made in the woolshed at ‘Katnook’ in 1896. By all accounts this second vintage indicated the outstanding quality that was to come. In 1971, the first vines of a new era for Katnook were planted, after an extended period of farming on the property and the woolshed being used as a sheep station.
Over the next decade, great attention was paid to executing superior viticultural management. The first commercial vintage was made in 1980 by winemaker – Wayne Stehbens in the ‘Katnook’ woolshed, just as Riddoch had done 84 years earlier. When Wayne passed away in 2017, he was one of the longest-serving and most successful winemakers in Australia’s history. Now, a new generation of winemakers is leading the charge at Katnook, with Daniel McNicol at the helm.
Katnook has two wines in the prestigious Langton’s Classification of Australian Wines, two Jimmy Watson trophies and a five-star rating in James Halliday’s Wine Companion 2020.
https://katnookestate.com.au/