It covers the area around the principal regional city of Mount Gambier and is bounded to the north by the Coonawarra just north of Nangwarry, to the east by the border with Victoria and to the south by the continental coastline from the border to Carpenter Rocks in the west.
[5] The Mount Gambier wine region was registered as an Australian Geographical Indication on 21 December 2010.
[6][7] The first plantings occurred in 1982 in a vineyard established by Sandy and Helen Haig immediately south of the city of Mount Gambier.
The establishment of vineyards within the wine region is attributed to primary producers diversifying away from dairy production following the corporatisation and deregulation of that industry beginning in the late 1970s.
Vineyards are exclusively family businesses ‘usually associated with other agricultural pursuits such as orchards, grazing, hay production and animal husbandry.’ The vineyards planted in the 1980s focused on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir varieties while establishments in the 1990s included varieties such as Cabernet and Merlot.