One of the most recent expansions at Yarra Glen in the Yarra Valley has been the establishment of the Sunshine Creek winery. Sunshine Creek is the venture of packaging magnate James Zhou, whom over many years has worked with Grant Burge, Philip Shaw, Bass Phillip, Craiglee and Vinea Marson was looking for a site to produce wines under his own brand to sell domestically and overseas. In 2009 Mario Marson advised James regarding the purchase of Martha’s Vineyard at Yarra Glen. This vineyard was established in the 1980s and had previously supplied fruit to Southcorp and Sticks Winery.

James was impressed with this site and the age of the vines. He recognised that with its unique micro-climate, ideal soil type and with favourable growing conditions this site had the potential to produce world class wines.

Once the vineyard was purchased an extensive program of grafting was undertaken. New clonal material was introduced to improve the quality of the fruit produced from this vineyard. Sunshine Creek Vineyard produces three wines, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a Cabernet blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. A Heathcote Shiraz is also produced.

Initially this vineyard was set up for mechanisation but it has now been converted to a vertical shoot positioned vineyard. Today the grapes are hand harvested and the resulting improvement in fruit quality has been evident in the wines produced in recent years.

In 2011 Andrew Smith was appointed Vineyard Manager to continue the work of the early years. Andrew and Chief Winemaker Chris Lawrence work in conjunction to ensure that premium quality fruit is produced at Sunshine Creek.

In 2014 the construction of a new state of the art winery was commenced to be completed by the end of 2016. The establishment of this 275 tonnes winery is the next exciting stage in the Sunshine Creek story.