Our History

Nestled amongst the towering red-gums on the dry and dusty Bullock Creek is one of the Bendigo Regions oldest blocks of Shiraz.

Right now the vines are looking tired, they have spent their energy ripening this years harvest. After two years of drought they have little left to finish but we know that even though there is less fruit the quality will be super premium.

This is the home of Connor Park Winery where the owners Ross & Robyn Lougoon divide their time between growing premium dryland grapes and turning them into award winning wines and tending a flock of 1800 merino sheep which are running in dry and dusty paddocks and daily feeding is part of the routine.

This is a diverse business, with the fruit being grown on the property, picked by hand and then crushed and fermented in the winery next to the sheep yards. If the grape harvest is late  finishing or the Autumn break comes early it is not unusual to find Ross in the winery by day and on the tractor sowing the wheat crop by night.

The old vines were planted in the mid 60s by the late Tom Connor who was better known for his development of Australian farming machinery through his company Connor Shea Machinery.

Tom, who had already invented the worlds first pick up baler and post hole digger had visions of perfecting an automatic grape harvester. Unfortunately a demanding business followed by ill health prevented his dreams from coming to fruition. Tom Connor passed away in 1982 after being presented with an OBE for his services to Australian agriculture and the vines at Connor Park were let run wild.

In September 1985 Ross & Robyn purchased the property to run as a farming enterprise. Knowing little about grapevines and nothing about wine production Ross and Robyn set about resurrecting the dilapidated vineyard. The old Shiraz vines were deep rooted and produced high quality fruit, which was keenly sought after by established wineries.

In 1992 they decided to extend the vineyard new plantings of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were added to the existing block.

1993 saw a slump in fruit sales and this encouraged Ross and Robyn to process some of their Shiraz crop. The 1993 Shiraz was followed by a Cabernet, a Semillon and Riesling and in early 1995 Connor Park Winery was borne.

Today Connor Park crushes all of their own fruit together with fruit from a number of contract growers, their range has grown to include a number of new varieties including marsanne, durif,  mourvedre. Sangiovese and Barbera. Never afraid to take a chance Ross has worked with these new varieties with astounding results with numerous medals including a number of gold and silver at shows around Australia. With the domestic market slowing the spirit at Connor Park would not be dampened, so Ross & Robyn decided the export market was their next target and so in 2002 they commenced exporting to the USA, UK and Malaysia.

The winery is currently producing around 8000 cases with the large percentage of this still being premium Shiraz.

While we love the challenge of new and different varieties Shiraz is what we do best here in Bendigo said Ross, quick to point out that even though his wines were receiving recognition around the world, that he had held the Australian record price for fat lambs for twelve months, a fact of which he is obviously very proud.

Located only an hour and a half from Melbourne it is hard to believe how dry it still is out here, but although the hours are long and the work is hard the spirit remains strong.

Connor Park, Connor Road, Leichardt, Victoria Australia 3516
Tel: +613 5437 5234 Fax: +613 5437 5204 Email: connor@netcon.net.au
website by Peter Wiseman