Currency CreekCaptain Charles Sturt first explored this region when he travelled down the Murray River in 1829 and 1830 and made his last campsite near the present town of Goolwa. In 1837 the town of Currency Creek and Hindmarsh Island were officially named, and in 1840 an elaborate town plan for Currency Creek was laid out.
Over the next 50 years agriculture, river transport and recreation developed. It was not until 1969 that the first vines were planted by Wally and Rosemary Tonkin; one acre each of Riesling, Grenache, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Despite local cynicism, the vines flourished and the first vintage followed in 1972 for what was then called Santa Rosa Winery, now known as Currency Creek Winery. In that same year the first vines were planted on 2.6 hectares, (6.5 acres) at what today is the Middleton Winery. They, too, were successful.
These plantings were on the dominant rolling sandy slopes that allow easy infiltration of water into the overlaying friable cracking clays that are easily accessed by the roots of the vines. The other suitable soils are loams with red alkaline clayey subsoils.
The climate in the region is slightly warmer than that of Langhorne Creek and on a par with that of Margaret River and California's Carneros. In common with those regions, it is a strongly maritime climate due to Lake Alexandrina and the Southern Ocean, thus avoiding extremes of cold or heat. There has been only one September day of frost experienced in the past 37 years and no hail or fog. Excellent ground water is readily accessible through bores, and there are no restrictions on its use.
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