Mt Stapylton Wines - making wines that rank in top wines of the world! ​

Howard Staehr was raised in the Grampians on a family farming property growing grain and sheep, went to school at Horsham Tech, played football for Laharum and Horsham and enjoyed other sports, athletics and cricket.

As a talented sportsman, Howard was recruited by Essendon Football Club in 1973 and undertook a Bachelor of Business at RMIT University. After finishing his degree, a career in Corporate Finance for large public listed companies beckoned, cutting short his football career but he continued his professional running, including winning at Stawell. Working with companies such as Ansett Transport Industries Limited, Bell Resources Limited and

 Great Central Mines Limited and other large corporate's, Howard regularly entertained clients at restaurants and winemaker dinners where he developed a desire to make his own wine. He rarely missed one of the legendary wine dinners at Max’s Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt, where he had the opportunity to meet and be inspired by some of Australia’s most prominent winemakers.

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Mount Stapylton at sunset

Samantha & Howard Staehr

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​While his work drew him to the capital cities, his passion for wine, farming and the Grampians drew him back. Howard was driven to make one of the best shiraz wines in the world, which he readily benchmarked against the world’s best.
After extensive research on the climate, soil profiles and terroir of the region and completing a short viticulture course, Howard sought the advice of local legend Viv Thompson (Best’s Great Western) before planting the boutique shiraz vineyard at Laharum, on the western slopes of the Grampians in 2002.
Howard engaged talented Grampians winemaker in Don McRae(the perfectionist), who has a wine science degree from Charles Sturt University in NSW and over 30 years’ in the wine industry, quickly reaping the benefits of his experience.
The first shiraz vintage was in 2004. The 2006 vintage won a Gold Medal and was ranked second in the world at the prestigious 2008 AWC Vienna International Wine Challenge. Subsequent vintages have been ranked 12th, 20th and 37th in the largest international competitions in the world.
The 2012 Howard Shiraz was nominated by well known wine writer Anthony Rose for the Decanter Wine Magazine top 50 Must Buy Wines of 2016.
Mount Stapylton Wines is Grampians born and bred, and today Howard continues the tradition of presenting regular wine dinners to introduce a new wave of vinophiles to showcase the wines of this spectacular region.

After achieving great success with the shiraz in the Grampians Howard and Samantha then established a vineyard on their other property in the Upper Yarra Valley in 2009, to make a world class chardonnay and pinot noir. Their first two vintages made with winemaker Caroline Mooney have received many international awards. Due to other work and travel commitments they sold this vineyard in 2013.

Don McRae bringing in the harvest