About Dos Rios

Dos Rios, or Two Rivers, was established in 1997. It lies just below the junction of the Murray and the Wakool Rivers, between Swan Hill and Robinvale. The property runs to sixty-four hectares, of which seventeen hectares are planted to vine. The vines of choice are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Shiraz in roughly equal proportions.

Most of the fruit is sold under contract to McGuigan-Simeon, one of the leading wineries in Australia, who make wines for numerous top flight labels.

In 2001, the proprietors at Dos Rios felt that the time was right to have a small portion of their fruit made into wine by their friend and winemaker, Alan Cooper. Alan and his wife, Nellie, own Cobaw Ridge, a very popular boutique winery near Kyneton in Victoria.

They selected the row ends for the fruit they wanted to use for their own wines to be sold under the Dos Rios label and it proved to be an excellent choice. Alan Cooper turned the grapes into a wine that was an instant success. The year was 2003.

As well as the plantings committed to the contractual arrangement, they also planted small lots of Verdelho and Lagrein (introduced into Australia by the Coopers) in 2001 and 2002. Then, in 2003 the vintage was comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, Chardonnay, Merlot, Shiraz and Verdelho from the Dos Rios vineyard and Pinot Gris from the vineyard of a friend.

McGuigan-Simeon made an offer to purchase the vineyard in 2003 and the people at Dos Rios agreed to the purchase. The 2003 vintage was still in barrels and an additional lot of several parcels of select fruit were purchased from premium growers in the northern Victorian regions. Alan made the wines of the 2004 vintage wines.

The former owners of Dos Rios bought a small vineyard just North of Nyah in Swan Hill, Victoria and set to work tending the small area of 25 year old Shiraz, a small peach and quince orchard.