Emo Michelini and his wife, Olga, emigrated to Australia from Trentino Alto Adige, in the north of Italy, in 1949 and within a few years were successfully farming tobacco in the Buckland Valley, in Victoria's alpine country.
In the mid 1980's, Emo and his sons, Ilario and Dino, and their families planted a vineyard using cuttings from Orlando Wyndham's vineyards in South Australia.

As the wines became established, Orlando Wyndham offered the Michelinis a contract to supply Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes that are now used for the company's well-known Trilogy sparkling wine.
Located in the Buckland Valley, near Mt Buffalo, the vineyard is now well over 100 acres in size and produces more grapes than required by Orlando Wyndham. So the Michelini family has invested in a state-of-the-art winery and cellar door sales operation in the nearby town of Myrtleford.

Since 1997, a range of red and white wines have been produced and marketed under the Michelini label, together with two unique wines produced from rare Italian grape varieties. For the past three vintages, the winemaking has been undertaken by Josephine Horn, a New Zealand graduate in oenology and viticulture. In addition to being winemaker at Michelini Wines, Horne also travels during the Northern Hemisphere season to work in the world's most acclaimed wine districts. In the past two years, she has gained additional winemaking experience in Spain and France and is currently working in Oregon, gaining more exposure to Pinot Noir and sparkling wine, before returning to Myrtleford for next year's vintage.

Rare Italian Red The wines produced under the Michelini label now include a 100% Marzemino, a rare Italian red variety that has a deep plummy colour and distinctive taste and is preferred by Italian families as the ideal wine accompaniment to pasta dishes. Ilario Michelini has also just released a sweet red style wine from another rare Italian variety, which is marketed as Fragolino. Made from the Italian grape variety Fragola, the grapes to make a very limited 500-litre vintage were sourced from many small backyard grapegrowers in the Myrtleford region, many Italian by Heritage. Ilario Michelini said Fragola was a preferred variety by Italian home winemakers and he was hoping to be able to increase the production of the grapes from small producers in the alpine region in future years.