Durif is a red grape variety which has been grown in Rutherglen for over 110 years. It was brought here by viticulturalist Francois de Castella in 1908. He came across it in southern France - a product of natural cross-breeding between Shiraz and another now basically extinct variety called Peloursin. The French weren't growing Durif commercially because it was not well suited to their climate. It likes sunny and dry weather during the grape ripening phase in late Summer and into Autumn, because it's not only a late ripening variety (so needs continuing warmth later into the season), but also has a tight bunch structure which makes it susceptible to bunch rot in wet or humid conditions. Rutherglen's climate fit perfectly, so Francois brought back a few vines to try.

At that time (late 1800's, very early 1900's), the Rutherglen region was a big producer of dry red wines, and exported most of it to England. However, when WWI broke out, export became difficult and the local wineries had to sell their product locally. Australians were not a wine drinking society at that point in time, except for sweet wines like port and sherry. So, the new Durif vines went straight towards port production.

The first dry red table wine was made from Rutherglen Durif in the 1950's, and now basically every winery in Rutherglen makes their own interpretation of this bold and delicious red wine.