ABOUT US

Cascabel Winery is located on a gentle slope, overlooking the cooling Gulf Saint Vincent, at the southern end of McLaren Vale. It is planted, predominantly, with Spanish grape varieties. Winemakers/vignerons/owners, Duncan Ferguson and Susana Fernandez, are highly committed to “in house production” with traditional European winemaking techniques, using handpicked, dry grown, low yielding grapes. The results are wines that reflect variety and soil, as well as the personality of the owners.

Duncan Ferguson studied Oenology at Roseworthy (in South Australia) in the early 90’s and spent several years making wine in the Clare Valley before heading off to make wine in the Rhône Valley in France, the Mosel region in Germany, and New Zealand.

Susana Fernandez (originally from Madrid, Spain, where she did her studies) has worked in wineries in the Trentino and Sicily regions in Italy, Bordeaux in France and the Yarra Valley in Australia. After meeting up with Duncan in Australia, she worked with him, making wine, in France, Germany and New Zealand.

In 1997 they purchased 5 hectares in McLaren Vale (in South Australia) and started setting up the winery and vineyards. Cascabel had a definite Spanish influence from the start, with varieties like Tempranillo, Monastrell, Graciano, Grenache and Cariñena making up the majority of the plantings. Spending time in France also encouraged them to plant Roussanne, Viognier, Shiraz and Cinsault. There are plans to plant some Albariño grapes too.