About Old Kent River

The Old Kent River vineyard is located on Turpin Road, Rocky Gully, Western Australia. It is a part of the Great Southern Wine Region and borders on the Frankland River Region.

The vineyard was established by Mark and Debbie Noack in 1985 and planted to varieties of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz were added later in 1994.

There are five acres of vines down in the Denmark Region, where their Cellar Door and Slow Food Café are also located. The vineyard lies on the banks of the Kent River, between Denmark and Walpole on the South Coast Highway.

The area in which the vineyard lies is a cool-climate region, which means that the grapes ripen slowly. This slow ripening allows the grapes to develop wonderful flavours and heighten the quality.

The Old Kent River property runs to around five-hundred hectares and has been the home to three generations of Noacks. They have 1500 Merino sheep, 60 cows and crayfish in the dam. One of the specialties at the ‘slow food café’ is crayfish - which they call, marron - and lamb.

The Noack family handle all the tasks in the vineyard, the farm and the Cellar Door. They are a very hard-working bunch of people who deserve all the success that comes their way.

Michael Staniford is their winemaker. He is also the winemaker for Alkoomi Wines and at harvest time, the Noacks deliver the top quality fruit to him and he wields his magic. The result of this happy combination of the Noack’s wonderful fruit and Michael Staniford’s skill is that the wines at Old Kent River have enjoyed considerable success on the Australian show circuit. James Halliday in fact gave the Old Kent River vineyard a five-star rating in his 2006, 2007 and 2008 Australian Wine Companion.

Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz are all available at their Cellar Door.