In 1990 the award winning McLaren Vale wine maker Geoff Merrill conceived the idea of developing a range of easy to drink wines centred around a cheeky label based on the Australian sulphur crested cockatoo. He wanted the new range to provide a counter
balance to the serious and expensive wines that he was making at Mount Hurtle. Merrill also had the view that often the wine industry took itself too seriously when many, if not the majority, of wine buyers wanted pleasant wines that were sold in a light hearted fashion.

The first wine released was the Cockatoo Ridge Brut N.V. which was notable for its faint pink colouring - not pronounced enough to term a rose but apparent none the less. This style has been continued in all subsequent releases. Initial interest in the brand was quite dramatic and by 1991 Robert Hill Smith of Yalumba had taken an interest in the brand to assist in financing its development. About six years ago Geoff sold his interest and the distributor Tuckers took a share before the brand was sold into the publicly listed Cockatoo Ridge Wines Limited in February, 2002.

While not the first wine to depict Australian animals it was the most successful at that time and can be rightly seen as the forerunner of the
‘life style’ wines of today. The most famous of these is Yellowtail with its Kangaroo image with other new releases from our large companies depicting Penguins and recently Emus.

Over the years the brand has expanded and now includes a range of sparkling wines, dry white wines and red table wines. The grapes for these wines are sourced primarily from the company owned vineyards in Loxton and Waikerie, next to the Murray River.

As a company, Cockatoo Ridge Wines Limited has expanded as well, acquiring the labels and stock of International Vintners Australia and Normans Wines.

The company is headquartered in the Barossa Valley on the principal road between the two main Barossa towns of Tanunda and Nuriootpa. This high profile site was once the old Hardy's Siegersdorf winery, built in about 1930.

The property, held under long term lease by Cockatoo Ridge, has been renovated to include administration, warehousing, barrel storage and a cellar door sales facility.