The younger, fertile red soils of this subregion coupled with a cooler climate owing to its increased elevation (up to around 400 metres) and south-westerly winds after March, produce the area's most notable varietals, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The property was taken over by Swiss-born Paul de Castella in 1850 and developed into a major wine centre for the region, its increasing profile recognised in 1861 when it won the Argus Gold Cup for best Victorian vineyard.

Although profile and plantings had grown considerably by the turn of the century, economic decline, the threat of phylloxera and changing palatal preference impacted on cool climate viticulture and by 1937 the region was entirely converted to dairy farming.

[5] In 1963, Reg Egan founded Wantirna Estate, the first of the most recent generation of Yarra Valley wineries, with plantings of varieties largely unknown in Australia, including Crouchon, Pedro Ximinez and Dolcetto.

[6] 12 hectares of vines were then planted in 1969 by the botanist Dr. Bailey Carrodus in the foot of the Warramate Hills, signalling the founding of Yarra Yering and the rekindling of interest in the region as a wine district.

Chardonnay in Australia has long been associated with a deep, oily, buttery style that experiences full malolactic fermentation and excessive amounts of oak treatment, that has since gone out of fashion nationwide.