Doonkuna History

The Beginning...

Doonkuna vines were first planted in 1973 (hearsay and confirmed by Dr John Kirk of Clonakilla) and planted by Wing Commander Harvey Smith and his wife Betty.

Harvey Smith and his family are occasional visitors to Doonkuna and his story is that he helped plant the first Clonakilla vines and the next week, the Kirk family helped plant Doonkuna and at the end the two families held a celebration barbeque. 

Ken Helm planted his vineyard in 1973 and the Middleton family also planted the Murrumbateman Winery vines also in 1973.  The Wing Commander is now living in Brisbane and is aged in his nineties.  Perhaps the story is true but a different vineyard.

The original vineyard [now known as the house vineyard], was planted with 9 different varieties in order to evaluate which wines would perform best in this cool climate area.

With the aid of drip irrigation the vines flourished and initially the wine was made by other vignerons in the region.

Encouraged by the success of the vines in the house vineyard, a further three acres were planted in the bottom Vineyard during 1976 and 1977.

A Change of Hands and a New Winery...

In 1978 Sir Brian and Lady Janet Murray purchased the property. They built a winery at the Estate and produced the first wine under the Doonkuna Estate label.

The new winery was equipped with modern stainless steel crusher/de-stemmer, horizontal bag press, semi automatic corker etc.

A refrigeration system was also installed to assist with the fermentation of the white wines and to cool the red wines during fermentation if necessary.

In late 1981 Rear Admiral Murray was appointed Governor of Victoria and took up office in early 1982. During their absence Roland Karval was appointed to run the vineyard.

The white wines produced in 1981 were a wood aged Chardonnay, a dry Rhine Riesling and a fruity Sauvignon Blanc.

The red wines produced were Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Shiraz. Achieving points equivalent to a bronze medal for the Cabernet and Shiraz at the 1981 national wine show gave an indication of the potential to produce premium quality table wines.

1981 saw the planting of the "middle" Vineyard, with the "Champagne" Vineyard at the top of the property being planted in 1984. An equal number of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines were planted in this one and three quarter acre area.

From 1986 to 1996 the wine making at Doonkuna was conducted under the direction of Oenotec, initially with Tony Jordan and then Gary Baldwin.

The consultancy worked well lifting the quality of the white wines into the highest bracket. The wines consistently proved their quality by gaining numerous medals and awards - and have continued to do so to this day.

In 1986 Sir Brian Murray returned from his post as Governor of Victoria and resumed the role of winemaker until his sudden death in 1991.

Changes and Expansions...

In 1996 Dr. Barry and Maureen Moran purchased Doonkuna Estate. Barry is a retired pathologist who has had a long standing interest in wine and who expanded the planting's from eight to fifty acres.

2007 was a tough year with the damage caused by the November frost. However this was all offset by the appointment early in the year of our fabulous new winemaker, Bruce March and the new and improved winery in operation.

The Future...

In 2008 we started the year by grafting two new varieties of vine, Primivito and Tempranillo, which will increase our range of wines even further.

With a February harvest it promises to be a great year.

Come and visit us soon!

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