In 1992 Nuriootpa High School became the first school in Australia to legally operate a commercial winery. The school has won the trophy for the best school made wine in Australia 5 times. One Hogshead of Shiraz was made in our first year. Students have been involved in growing the grapes, picking the grapes, crushing the grapes, making the wine, bottling the wine, designing the wine labels,
publicity and marketing of the wine.

In 1998 we produced our first Ruby Port using school grown grapes, a tradition that has continued each year since. That year also saw the first premium Barossa Class Shiraz produced from grapes grown in Ebenezer. This is our flagship wine which has won numerous prestigious wine awards including silver medals in the Barossa Wine Show and a rating of 94/100 by international wine critic Robert Parker Jr.

Our 2003 Barossa Scholar Shiraz received a 93/100 in the Wine Spectator ratings as well as a Bronze medal at the Barossa Wine Show. Each year we produce four wines: Barossa Class Shiraz, Barossa Class Port, Barossa Scholar Shiraz and Barossa Scholar Chardonnay.

The wine program has featured on T.V. in Australia, the USA and Japan, our wines are exported internationally.

Each year about 75 - 100 Year 10 students have assisted Agriculture teachers with the Viticulture and Winemaking. Since 1994 the school has made a Chardonnay produced from grapes purchased from Marcus Schulz at Kalimna. The Chardonnay spends time at Southcorp in a cool room where winemaker and staff have monitored its progress. The Shiraz stays in the School's winery but samples are analysed in the Southcorp laboratories and winemaker Mr Steve Lienert provides valuable feedback .

Our premium Barossa Class Shiraz has been made from grapes purchased from Mr Kevin Braunack at Ebenezer. Each year this wine is placed in new hogsheads from Heinrich Cooperage. This wine gained a five star assessment from WINESTATE magazine in 1999. This wine gained a silver medal at the Barossa Wine Show in the same year and a points score of 94 out of 100 in the USA by Robert Parker Jnr.

The 1999 Barossa Class Shiraz gained a silver medal at both the Barossa and Hobart Wine Shows. The 2000 Barossa Scholar Chardonnay gained a Bronze medal at the Barossa Show. In 1998 we produced a "Ruby Tawny Port" with the assistance of Dean Kraehenbuhl. The "Barossa Class Port" was awarded three and a half stars by WINESTATE magazine in 1999 and four and a half stars rating in March 2000.