Why call a wine The Gig?

After we had bought the property that is Upper Reach, we discovered that Captain Stirling had camped on the opposite river bank, on his first exploration of the Swan River.

From reading Stirling’s diary & accounts of the time, it was clear that the Government in England decided to establish a settlement in Western Australia solely on the basis of Stirling’s observations from that expedition.

We’ve wanted to celebrate the contribution that the soil here at Upper Reach made to the settlement of WA, and of course the soil is fundamental to our wines. So making an approachable, easy drinking wine called THE GIG, after the small sailing dingy that Stirling used seemed appropriate.

“On a high bank we pitched our tent; the richness of the soil…the shrubs, the majesty of the surrounding trees, the abrupt banks of the river…the view of the blue mountains, from which we were not far distant, made the scenery around this spot as beautiful as anything of this kind I had ever witnessed.”

– STIRLING 1829

Stirling's expedition across our vineyard and toward the Hills was his first contact with Western Australia.
He must have really liked it as in 1829 he returned to be the first Governor of the Swan River Colony.

There is of course a lot more to Stirling's story, find out more about James Stirling's life and his part in the infamous Pinjarra Massacre.