Our Story
The first Tinkler arrived in the Hunter Valley from Ireland aboard the China in 1844. The fifth and sixth generations now farm approximately one thousand hectares in the Hunter Valley at Pokolbin and Merriwa, producing wine grapes, table grapes, stone fruit and beef cattle.
In 1968 McWilliams Wines approached fourth generation Usher Gordon and his wife Gladys Irena (née Matthews) to grow grapes on their Pokolbin property to meet their expanding Hunter market. Usher Gordon formed a partnership with his two sons, Usher William and Ian Geoffrey, and planted 3 hectares of Shiraz grapes on the hill behind the present winery.
We selected planting sites on our Pokolbin properties with ideal soil and aspect. Isolated pockets of volcanic basalt over calcareous limestone, unique to Pokolbin, were selected to grow Shiraz and Merlot grapes. Chardonnay was grown on this soil on our Poppy's Vineyard to develop distinctive high beaume fruit with tropical fruit characters and lower phenolics. Lighter sandier soils were planted to Semillon to produce desirable lime citrus flavours with natural acidity.
In 1996, we constructed a cellar door four hundred metres along Pokolbin Mountains Road, and began to make exclusive selections from our crop to produce small batches of single block wines. We also produce a wide range of farm produce, such as table grapes, stone fruit, avocados and jams and preserves.
Over forty years we have preserved our vineyard's unique soil using modern conservation farming. Today three vineyards cover 35 hectares and produce three to four hundred tonne of premium Hunter Valley fruit. Our wines are available from the cellar door, our online order page and restaurants.