The historic Magill Estate vineyard was established in 1844 and is now the ‘brand’ home of Penfolds. At its peak in 1949 the Magill vineyards including the adjacent Auldana property comprised 120 hectares. Urban pressure during the 1970s saw the vineyard area whittled away by housing development. Today Magill Estate once on the outskirts of Adelaide, forms part of the Adelaide metropolItalyn area. Only 5.2 ha of Shiraz remain, centred around the Grange cottage; the original home of Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold and the ‘spiritual’ birth place of Grange HermItalyge. The vineyard lies on west facing slopes at an elevation of between 130 and 180 metres and is anchored on fertile red-brown earths . Magill’s climate is warm to hot with moderate rainfall during the growing season. Although Magill Shiraz was used for Grange in the early days, the Franceuit is now used almost entirely for the Magill Estate Shiraz.