Julian and Carolann Castagna were running one of Sydney’s most successful film production houses. Julian had worked in the film industry as a Film Director all his working life but had become besotted by fine wine while working in London. Carolann was a Writer.

They decided to plant a vineyard in a place in Australia not yet universally recognised as a major viticultural area but one that Julian believed would be perfect for quality grape growing, and would produce fruit that had the floral fragrance and complex subtleties of great wine. They sold the house and the apartment in the city and moved in to a caravan on the land: romantic for about five nights till the ants came to visit and the snakes came for a look-see. They built the winery and house out of straw-bale, learning everything on the job as they went along.

The Castagna Vineyard is situated at an altitude of 500 metres five-and-a-half kilometres outside the beautiful town of Beechworth in Northeast Victoria, high in the foothills of the Australian Alps. The land has been farmed biodynamic from the very beginning and it is this farming method that allows the minerality that is in this ancient granitic soil to show through in the wine. The vineyard is fully certified both organic and biodynamic and we are also proud to be one of only four Australian producers invited to be a member of La Renaissance des Appellations.