The Dookie Region

Early Beginnings

Prior to European settlement of Australia the Yerran-Yillam tribe, belonging to the Thagungwurru language group, inhabited the Central Victorian river bank environs for some 40,000 years. In the early 1800’s, squatters took over large tracts of riparian land to secure water for grazing. The fledgling State of Victoria legislated in 1861 to allow new European settlers to select smaller tracts for agriculture. These “selectors” comprised mainly German and Irish immigrants who cleared the red soil to plant crops. The first land selector in the district, Cord Heinrich Feldtmann, had immigrated in 1858 and commenced farming his selection in 1861.

Gentle Annie

One Irish selector, Michael Ryan, a contemporary and sometime associate of the most famous Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, had a daughter named Anne. She was “of gentle temperament and extraordinary beauty” and was known far and wide as “Gentle Annie”. She liked to walk along the bush tracks around the hills near her home and one such hill opposite her original home carries her name today. Its slopes are now the site of Gentle Annie Vineyard.

History of Wine at Dookie

In the period 1880 through to the early 1900's, Dookie was a major winegrowing area in Victoria until the combined effects of Phylloxera and recession decimated the vineyards, which ultimately reverted to cereal cropping farms. At its peak, Dookie had 37 vineyards, the last of which disappeared from near Cosgrove around 1950, and the area delivered 33% of Victoria's wine production. The largest vineyard was Chateau Dookie with 580 acres of non-irrigated vines producing at 3 tonnes per acre.

The original Chateau Dookie main building still stands in excellent condition and is in use as a private home. Vines were re-established by the Dookie Agricultural College on the southern slope of Mt Major around 1977. Today, the college is a campus of the University of Melbourne's Institute of Land and Food Resources (ILFR) and it has 20 ha of mature vines. On the campus a model winery of 100 tonnes capacity operates in an historic building dating back to 1896.

New Vineyards at Dookie

Since 1996, new commercial vineyards have been constructed near Dookie. The largest one, Gentle Annie Vineyard, had its first vines established in 1997 and has been planted out to 68 ha of predominantly premium red varieties (Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon). Tony Cotter is the Managing Partner of Gentle Annie Vineyard. All the vineyards are now proven commercial ventures and have the greater portion of their production contracted to Brown Brothers of Milawa. These Dookie area vineyards produce about 1500 tonnes of premium winegrapes, of which approximately 50% is processed under local labels.

Premium Quality Winegrapes from Dookie

Dookie's reputation as a winegrowing district is virtually unknown today as very few records survived from a century ago.  After winning Brown Brothers’ Grower of the Year Award for the fourth time running (2004), Ross Brown, Managing Director of Brown Brothers, said “Brown Brothers is fortunate to have Gentle Annie Vineyard as a grape supplier. Gentle Annie fruit makes up a significant component of some of our top labels, which have recently attracted much attention in the industry including major show medals”. Reaching this level of quality is achieved by world class viticultural practice, including careful management of irrigation to minimise the quantity of water applied to the vines, stressing them in a controlled manner at flowering and veraison. The particular characteristics of the Dookie landform contribute significantly to this quality also. The deep red volcanic clay-loams (terra rossa) over a fractured basalt base provide soil drainage conditions similar to Coonawarra, while the warm climate means full ripening is achieved every year. The rolling hills around Mt Major also provide drainage for cold air such that frost is rarely a problem on the slopes. The Dookie red soil domain with its warm climate, provides near-perfect terroir for premium winegrape growing.

Location Map

Soil Profile

The site of the Gentle Annie Vineyard consists of deep red volcanic clay-loams (terra rossa) over a fractured basalt base.

SOIL PROFILE – GENTLE ANNIE VINEYARD