Dos Rios

Bruce Hall entered the wine business as a small contract grower for McGuigan Simeon Wines. From this point on, the story goes in reverse: instead of McGuigan Simeon saying it no longer required the grapes, it purchased the vineyard in 2003. In the meantime, Hall had hand-picked the grapes left at the end of the rows after the mechanical harvester had passed through. In 2004 he purchased a small property northwest of Swan Hill with plantings of 20-year-old shiraz, which has been extended by small areas of viognier, tempranillo, verdelho, moscato giallo and, more recently, lagrein. Exports to Japan. -JAMES HALLIDAY