There are more than 30 producers and the total is increasing every year. The area is defined as the area with an altitude of 400 metres or more and runs up to the Barossa region to the North and the McLaren Vale region to the south.

Wine grapes initially were planted in the region from 1839 and an 1845 Hock from Echunga was the first South Australian wine exported, sent as a gift to Queen Victoria. These first winemaking efforts petered out by 1905, but the region re-emerged in 1971 with Jan and Leigh Verrall’s plantings at Lower Hermitage, and grew rapidly when Brian Croser began planting in and publicising the Piccadilly Valley in 1979.

The region is undoubtedly ‘cool climate’ with the folds and undulations of the hills creating a wide range of microclimates. In seeking and exploiting these climatic differences the vineyards tend to be small in area and often very steep. Hand pruning and picking is often a necessity as well as a choice. There are now more than 1,100 ha of vineyards in the region, more than 30 wine labels and two large-scale wineries, with more wineries planned.