OUR STORY

​Toby and Dianne dreamed of owning a property on the Mornington Peninsula and in July 2014 they stumbled across Rahona Valley, a hidden away vineyard in a secluded valley and fell in love with the property, and embarked on a new journey into the world of wine.  At that time Rahona Valley was one of the smallest commercial vineyards on the Mornington Peninsula. Since then, they have expanded production, taken on several new vineyards, built their own winery and specialised sparkling production facility (Australian Cuvée Centre) which works with other wineries to produce world class sparkling wine and created a unique urban cellar door in Dromana Habitat with a selection of other artisan makers and traders. 

OUR TEAM

TOBY PIETERS, OWNER
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Toby brings a lifetime of small business experience and entrepreneurship to the team having started his career in the ceramic tile family business which saw him become General Manager, before the age of 20.  In 2014, Toby and his partner Dianne embarked on a new adventure in the wine world, purchasing Rahona Valley vineyard, on the Mornington Peninsula.  It is here Toby fell in love with sparkling wine and now knows more than most winemakers about the subject. A quiet and generally shy man, until you get him talking about wine.  Toby loves sharing his passion for wine with our winery visitors. 
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DIANNE GARDINER, OWNER

​Dianne is a businesswoman and entrepreneur. Having established her own market research business in 2007 at the start of the GFC, she rode out the storm and after 13 years of running the business she continues in the role as CEO today.

In 2014, Dianne and Toby embarked a new adventure into the wine world. While Dianne isn't involved in the winemaking or vineyard management she loves wine and is custodian of our brand. 
​Visit our cellar door and chat to Dianne about what makes Rahona: Seriously. Good.  

NATALIE FRYAR, CHIEF WINEMAKER
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​Growing up in a wine region, Natalie completed school work experience with Hardys winery at age 14 and at 16 she did her very first vintage. Natalie has enjoyed a stellar career that has taken her all over the world from Great Western to Champagne and Tasmania.  Known in the industry as “the Queen of Bubbles”, Natalie was for over 14 years the winemaker at Jansz Tasmania, helping to establish it as a leading Australian sparkling wine specialist. Today she has her own sparkling wine company Bellebonne, a gin company Abel Gin and consults to numerous wineries, including Pipers Brook Vineyard, who make sparkling wine under the Kreglinger, Pipers Brook and Ninth Island labels. ​In late 2018 Natalie became Rahona Valley’s sparkling wine consultant and in 2019 became the Chief winemaker.

ALISDAIR PARK, WINEMAKER 

​Developing a passion for wine while working in the events industry in Sydney, Alisdair opted for a change in career and graduated with a Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology from the University of Adelaide in 2013. He has undertaken vintages in several regions in Australia, Spain and the United Kingdom. Training as an assistant winemaker with Hardys, Alisdair worked in the Arras sparkling wine program for several years under Ed Carr, where he gained a passion for crafting quality sparkling wine. During this time he had the opportunity to undertake a vintage at the sparkling wine house Nyetimber in the UK which gave him further experience in cold climate wine production. Since moving to Victoria in 2018 Alisdair has furthered his interest in producing wines from cool climate regions and joined Rahona Valley to focus on producing top quality cool climate wines.

OUR VINEYARDS

Our vineyards are located across Mornington Peninsula region and Tasmania.  Rahona Valley, the original estate vineyard, is located in Red Hill South, along with Kaye's Block. Mary's Block is located in Main Ridge, with other vineyards located in Arthurs Seat, Tuerong and Balnarring.  In 2019 Rahona Valley also started grower relationships with several vineyards in Northern Tasmania, including one located 1000 ft above sea level in Pipers River region. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

​Rahona Valley acknowledges the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, and recognise their continued connection to the land and waters of this country.

OUR PHILOSOHY

The philosophy for Rahona Valley is to produce the highest quality wine through best practice vineyard management, sustainable farming principles and excellence in winemaking.

Sustainable vineyard practices include:

• Natural ‘lawn mowers' and weed control in the form of miniature sheep.  
• Minimising use of herbicides and pesticides
• Mulching and composting of canes and other green waste to return vital nutrients to soil
• Regular trimming and de-suckering of vines
• Intensive canopy management including leaf plucking to promote ripening
• Shoulder removal and bunch thinning to produce the highest quality fruit
• Water harvesting and retention
• Improving the natural environment around the property through removal of invasive weeds and non-indigenous native plants.

Together these practices ensure the sustainability of the vineyard and the surrounding natural environment.  

In the winery, the focus is on waste minimisation:

• ‘No-drains’ winery and production facility i.e. no wine waste to sewer or stormwater
• Recycling and reuse, where possible
• Lees recovery and reuse
• Maximise extraction and minimise wine loss
• Grape marc distributed to local farmers for stock fee​d​

Our Partners and Supporters: 
VisitMP Partner Mornington Peninsula Regional Tourism Board 
Member of Dromana Habitat 
Member of Mornington Peninsula Hinterland Tourism Association  
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We would like to acknowledge the support of Mornington Peninsula Shire in redevelopment of our website and ecommerce strategy.

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