Jerusalem Hollow

Perth eye surgeon Bill Ward, wife (and former nurse) Louise and family began planting their vineyard in 2000. Bill, a long-term admirer of Champagne, was inspired by an article by Max Allen in the Weekend Australian Magazine in which Californian sparkling winemaker Harold Osborne (maker of Pelorus for Cloudy Bay in NZ) expressed the view that Margaret River was a good region for sparkling wine. This remains the main thrust of the business, with a side bet on Cabernet Sauvignon and a small amount of Roussanne Chardonnay to follow in due course. The name, incidentally, is a local one, but it so happens that Bill worked at the St John's eye hospital in Jerusalem as a surgical fellow in the late 1980s to early '90s. -JAMES HALLIDAY