Its vineyard is west of Mount Barker, and its winery and cellar door are further south, at Denmark.

Initially, it was planted by the Department of Agriculture as an experiment in diversification, on land leased from Tony and Betty Pearse for 10 years.

The vines planted in that year, one hectare each of riesling and cabernet sauvignon, grew only very slowly in the cool climate.

[2] In 1972, the first commercial vintage was made from the vineyard's grapes by Jack Mann at Houghton in the Swan Valley.

They included the 1975 riesling, which, under the Sandalford label, won 12 gold medals and nine trophies.