Oliver's Taranga

In 1839 William and Elizabeth Oliver travelled to South Australia from Berwick in Roxburghshire, Scotland aboard the 360 ton sailing ship ‘Delhi' and eventually settled in 1841 on land at McLaren Vale. Whitehill and Taranga farms, the names given to the northern and southern sections of this land, are located 2 km north of McLaren Vale overlooking the township. Taranga is a corruption of the aboriginal word Tarangk, meaning ‘the middle' which was used by the Kaurna, a local aboriginal tribe. Sheep and cattle were raised and orchards and vineyards were planted immediately upon arrival and the family prospered.

The property is still run by fifth generation descendants of William and Elizabeth which consist of 110 hectares of land being planted to many different varieties of red and white wine grapes.

The McLaren Vale wine region is fortunate in that it is bounded by the Sellicks Hill Range and the waters of Gulf St. Vincent, generating temperate growing conditions required to produce top quality fruit more consistently than other regions. The region is relatively small with a wide variety of soils. On the Taranga property the soils are sandy loam over clay and limestone with evidence of ironstone throughout.

From 1994, some of these low yielding, high quality, old vine grapes have been processed with some outstanding results, setting the scene for Oliver's winemaking ventures.

www.oliverstaranga.com

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