In 1997 Bernice and Tony O’Connell bought a 100 acre property on Mandalay Road, Glen Mervyn. as a rural retreat. The plan was to grow a few grapes to make wine for fun, for home and friends’ consumption. The “few grapes” quickly grew to a 10 acre boutique vineyard of Shiraz, Cabernet, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Producing wine “for fun” has now become an obsession to produce the best wine possible from the fruit produced on the property. The vineyard is situated amongst rolling hills just off the Boyup Brook Road between Donnybrook and Collie.

Fermoy Estate in Cowaramup make Mandalay Road wines. Liz Dawson and her hard working team year after year produce excellent, single vineyard, varietal wines that express the terroir of Mandalay. Fermoy use Mandalay Road Shiraz and Chardonnay in their own “Geographe” label which they export to the UK.

The vineyard at Mandalay is planted on a north facing slope of loam over clay. Located 50 km inland, Mandalay experiences warm days and cold nights throughout the year. This temperature variation produces fruit with a wonderful flavour profile. Shiraz from Mandalay is outstanding, the 2007 Shiraz winning Gold medals in 2008 and 2009. The 2008 shiraz has already won a silver medal and the 2010, not yet released, is looking outstanding. The Zinfandel 2006 has won its share of silver medals and is exported to California. The 2007 Zin features in the” Best of the West”, Winestate June 2009. The Chardonnay and Cabernet regularly take out bronze medals. James Halliday awarded Mandalay Road 4 stars in his 2009 edition.