Great Southern (wine region)
The Great Southern wine region is in Western Australia's Great Southern region. It comprises an area from east to west and over from north to south, and is Australia's largest wine region. It has five nominated subregions for wine, the Porongurups, Mount Barker, Albany, Denmark and Frankland River under the geographical indications legislation as determined by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation. The vineyards spread throughout the area known for production of high quality vines have significant variations of terroir and climate dictated in part by the distance however the region is the coolest  of Western Australia's viticultural areas, with a similar maritime influenced Mediterranean climate to Margaret River although with slightly less rainfall. This diverse region is known for Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, pinot noir, Shiraz, and Malbec. History. The international definition and recognition of this area as a distinct and unique wine growing area goes back to 1859, when original settler George Egerton-Warburton planted vines on his St Werburgh's property near Mount Barker and bottled his first vintage two years later. However, the first real commercial foundations were laid in the late 1930s by horticulturalist Bill Jamieson. His extensive  knowledge of the area's soils and climate was augmented by the research of Californian Professor Harold Olmo in 1955 during a government-sponsored trip to Western Australia. Olmo spent eight months in Western Australia at the invitation of the Western Australian Vine Fruits Research Trust, while on leave from his post as Professor of Viticulture at the University of California. When he published his report in 1956, one of the recommendations put forward was that Mount Barker and the Frankland area of Western Australia showed great promise for making table wines in the light traditional European style. This was  further backed up by agricultural and viticultural scientist Dr John Gladstones in 1963, and endorsed by the Western Australian Grape Industry Committee (1964). A year later, Jamieson and Houghton's celebrated winemaker Jack Mann, went to Mount Barker and the first experimental cuttings were planted in 1965 at Forest Hill.