Mountadam Cabernet Merlot 2008 (6 x 750mL), Barossa, SA.

Established in 1972 as one of Australia's pioneer Chardonnay producers, Mountadam was founded by the late David Wynn, without question one of the most significant contributors to the Australian wine industry and an important part of the Mountadam story.

Amongst his many achievements, David Wynn is credited with the invention of the wine cask; he founded Wynn's Coonawarra Estate and transformed Coonawarra reds during the 1960s and '70s; he was the first to establish a contour planted vineyard (Modbury, SA), the first to plant Riesling in Coonawarra, and was a passionate advocate of regionality.

In selecting the land for the Mountadam vineyard, Wynn was the first to recognise the potential of a cool, elevated site to produce wines of great elegance and structure, and chose an area high above the Eden Valley, which he named High Eden. At 550m above sea level, Mountadam is in fact the most elevated vineyard in South Australia.

He was awarded the prestigious Maurice O’Shea trophy in 1993.

David’s son Adam, after whom Mountadam was named, took over as winemaker in 1984, and subsequently sold the business (2002) in its entirety to French luxury goods giant, LVMH.

Mountadam returned to private ownership in 2006, with the acquisition by South Australian farmer and accountant David Brown, who has made significant investment in vineyard improvement and expansion.

Winemaking is managed by Con Moshos, who has a distinguished 23-year career making fine wines at Petaluma.