The Victorian Alps winery was established in 1996 by six great friends who were also wine professionals. Their extensive experience in the industry and their passion for the region were central to the success of the winery over its relatively short existence. In 1999 the first wines were released under the Gapsted brand and in 2001 the stunning and award winning Cellar Door was opened.
The winery and cellar door are located on the Great Alpine Road, one of Australia’s premier touring routes. The road meanders its way along the stunningly picturesque Ovens Valley, up through the rugged Victorian mountain ranges to the height of 1700 metres, before winding down the other side and ending at Australia’s sun drenched southern coastline.
The owners of Victorian Alps Winery are all passionate wine people with Shayne Cunningham and John Cavedon providing the drive for the business.
John grew up on neighbouring farms in the district. After his wild youth days of bush dances and courting girls, he settled down with loved ones, and planted vineyards. Shayne was a winemaker in the northern district of Australia, and would travel regularly to the North East Victorian region to sample grapes. He met John and they instantly became friends through their common love of the region, good food and fantastic wines. They had a dream to build their own winery and decided to become business partners. After many long nights of planning (and the occasional tipple), the dream of Victorian Alps Winery became a reality. Today the winery crushes 11,000 tons and has storage capacity of over 9 million litres.
The unique combination of having a winemaker and grower as owners, allows the company to have total control over the winemaking process from growing the fruit, right through to making the wine and marketing it.
