Fox Creek `Duet` Cabernet Merlot 2012 (12 x 750mL), McLaren Vale, SA.

It all began when a group of medicos decided to realise a lifelong passion - creating a wine from bare earth and sunshine. The earth was found at McLaren Vale, one of South Australia's premier wine regions, renowned worldwide for its Shiraz and other red wines. The sunshine was free.

When Jim and Helen Watts bought the 32 hectare Fox Creek Vineyard property in 1984, they were advised against planting vines as the soils were heavy clay. The property had previously been used for growing barley and grazing sheep. Undeterred by the sceptics, they selected and planted fine quality cuttings and nurtured the young vines. Their labours bore fruit - extraordinary good quality fruit - that was lovingly converted into supreme quality wines. Under the skilled guidance of the winemakers, the wines came to life!

Leader of the pack and the first wine made at Fox Creek was our 1994 Shiraz, which won the Trophy for the best wine at the McLaren Vale Wine Show in 1995. McLaren Vale is the gateway to the Fleurieu Peninsula and is home to some of the best produce and vineyards in the country. With over 76 wineries in McLaren Vale along, visitors can spend days experiencing some of the best wines in the world.

Fox Creek has three company vineyards or approximately 60 hectares of vines. The vineyards are within a range of 5 kilometres, near the village of Willunga.On our vineyards we grow most common grape varieties. The red varieties are our specialty, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The white varieties grown are Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Verdelho and Semillon.

Fox Creek has always protected and enhanced the areas surrounding the vineyards with plantings of indigenous native trees. These provide habitat, food and shelter for native birds. Our focus is to be environmentally friendly and only use sustainable practices if possible. We strive to minimise the use of any chemical or other artificial agents.

All of our vineyards are hand pruned to control vigour. Hand pruning also controls cropping levels which are kept quite low, enabling us to produce small berries full of concentrated flavour and colour.