Duke'S Vineyard company information, Employees & Contact Information

Duke’s Vineyard is an award-winning, ten-hectare vineyard in the cool-climate Great Southern wine region of Western Australia producing dry Rieslings, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. The vineyard is a unique site that sits at the feet of the ancient granite Porongurup peaks and has views of the Stirling Range to the north. It is characterised by warm ripening days and cooler nights tempered with maritime breezes. Duke and Hilde Ranson established the vineyard as their "retirement" with the first vine being planted by Duke on his 60th birthday, the 5th of August 1999. In 2019, they received 99 points and the James Halliday Wine of the Year Award for the 2017 Riesling, a first for an Australian Riesling. When Duke decided it was time to ease into retirement, he searched for four years to find the right person to take over his legacy brand and vineyard, a path that led him to Ben Cane. He and Ben share the same passion to make beautiful wines from an exceptional terroir; have the same appreciation for cool climate wines; and like to have a lot of fun in the process of making, enjoying, and selling wine. Winemaker Ben Cane and film/media/special events producer Sarah Date took over the property and brand in April 2022 when Duke retired at 82. Excited about the fact that the rest of Australia (and the globe) is awakening to the potential of the Great Southern region, Duke's Vineyard is where Ben and Sarah's next winemaking chapter begins. They are guiding the existing premium wines to exciting new heights and will add other examples of Riesling and Shiraz from the Great Southern to the portfolio as well as Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir by way of invitational vineyards. As Duke likes to say: "Life is too short to drink bad wine!"