Winemaking an Ellis family tradition Hanging Rock Winery has a new winemaker. Robert Ellis, son of John and Ann Ellis, has returned home to join his mother, father and sister Ruth in the family business. Hanging Rock is in the Macedon Ranges wine region, but a significant contribution to its business is the shiraz grown in the Heathcote wine region.

During John Ellis's tenure at Tisdall Wines in the 70's and early 80's, John travelled frequently from Melbourne to Echuca, sometimes taking the road less travelled, through Colbinabbin.``I'd been assisting Len French and Jim Munro and we knew of the great shiraz that Ron Laughton was making,'' he said.``At that stage, only Ian Rathgen had planted vines north of Lady's Pass but I could see that whole strip from Lady's Pass to Colbinabbin becoming vineyards. When we started Hanging Rock Winery we knew that we needed Heathcote shiraz in our grape mix.``In 1986 we leased the Mt Camel vineyard and made our earliest shiraz from that source. The vineyard was salt-affected and lasted only six years, but we made great wine in those years. Our 1987 vintage, released in 1988, won many medals and was compared with the current release Grange Hermitage by The Wine Press.''John started looking for land to plant their own Heathcote vineyard in 1992. Athol Guy had just returned from the Seekers last world tour, had decided to establish a vineyard in Heathcote and was advised to use John as a consultant.In 1994, the first planting took place at Athol's Paddock. This was initially a joint venture with Athol, but is now fully owned by Hanging Rock Winery.``We have a very loyal following for our Heathcote Shiraz,'' John said. ``Around 20 per cent is pre-sold to return customers.''Ann's father Murray, being a third generation Hunter Valley Shiraz grower, was prepared to call Heathcote ``the second best place in Australia to grow shiraz'', John said.``As early as 1980 Murray saw the wines being produced by Albino Zuber. I recall drinking some Heathcote shiraz with Murray who commented `We've got to get a piece of that'.Extract from article by Kate Hicks (as published in the McIvor TImes February 2011)