It was first planted commercially in Australia by George Wyndham, an educated English wine enthusiast from an aristocratic family who emigrated to New South Wales in 1827.
He bought a 842ha farm and established Dalwood Estate (now known as Wyndham Estate) in 1828, and planted vineyards in 1830.
Dalwood Estate wines won awards in Europe in the 1860s and 1890s.
Now part of the multinational Pernod Ricard, Wyndham Estate has launched a George Wyndham range of premium wines priced about $22.
These are a step up from the good value Wyndham Bin range of a dozen varietal wines (about ($16) such as the Bin 555 Shiraz and Bin 444 Cabernet Sauvignon.
At the top of the range is George Wyndham Black Cluster, about $65, grown in the Hunter Valley where the old Wyndham winery and current tasting room is.
Most of the wines now come from other areas, according to winemaker Tony Hooper who visited Dunedin recently to show the Wyndham range to the trade.
The Bin range is sourced from vineyards around southeast Australia, but, he says, increasingly from premium areas in South Australia like Langhorne Creek, Barossa and McLaren Vale rather than the vast Sunraysia and Mildura regions around the Murray River.
He aims for The Bin series wines to be identifiably varietal, from verdelho and chardonnay to pinot noir, shiraz and merlot.
The George Wyndham wines have a shiraz focus and Mr Hooper was showing a 2004 Shiraz and a Cabernet Merlot 2002 which were different in style from the simpler, varietal wine.
Both are mature wines with several more years to go, typically Australian, spicy, bold and rich, the cabernet merlot soft at the front with firm tannins and the shiraz with a hint of eucalypt and concentrated fruit.
Another step up in quality and several steps up in price is the flagship George Wyndham Black Cluster from a 40-year-old vineyard in the Hunter Valley which is made only in the best years - '03, '05, '06 and '07.
It is aromatic, mellowed with soft, intense fruit, a suggestion of sweatiness characteristic of Hunter Valley shiraz, a silky texture, stylish balance and long aftertaste.
