Owner Mike Fitzpatrick acquired a taste for fine wine while a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University in the 1970s. Returning to Australia he guided Carlton Football Club to two premierships as captain, then established Melbourne-based finance company Squitchy Lane Holdings. The wines of Mount Mary inspired him to look for his own vineyard, and in ‘96 he found a vineyard of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, planted in ‘82, just around the corner from Coldstream Hills and Yarra Yering. And that is where the story of Squitchy Lane Wines began.