Museum Release: The Prince

A Portuguese story in Rutherglen and a special Museum Release

At Stanton & Killeen there are a few wines that tell our family story in a very direct way.

Jack’s Block Shiraz honours Jack Stanton, fourth generation.
Fortitude Durif honours Norman Killeen, fifth generation.
The Prince Iberian Blend honours Christopher Killeen, sixth generation, known to many as The Prince of Port.

Together, these are our icon wines. Each one is a tribute to the person behind the name as well as a reflection of the style they loved.

In our 150th anniversary year we have opened the museum cellar to share a small collection of The Prince. Before we get to the Museum Release, it feels right to tell the story behind this wine.

Chris Killeen, The Prince of Port

Chris grew up in the old winery at Rutherglen and spent his life surrounded by barrels, open fermenters and fortified wine. He had a particular passion for Portuguese style vintage port and wanted to create an expression that felt true to both Portugal and Rutherglen.

In the 1980's and 90s he began planting Portuguese grape varieties at Stanton & Killeen. Names like Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barocca, Touriga Nacional and Tinto Cão were not common in the region at the time. For Chris they were an exciting way to bring extra fragrance, structure and complexity to his vintage fortified wines.

Over the years he helped shape a drier, more aromatic and more layered style of Australian vintage port. In 2006 wine writer Jeni Port described him as the man who almost single handedly holds the future of Australian vintage port in this country. It is a line that still means a great deal to our family.

At local industry dinners Chris would sometimes stand and recite a poem about the Rutherglen vignerons. In that poem there was a Baron of Burgundy, a Duke of Durif and, with a smile, a Prince of Port. The nickname stayed.

Chris passed away in 2007 after a short battle with multiple myeloma. His influence on fortified wine continues to be felt in Rutherglen and well beyond.

From Vintage Fortified to The Prince Iberian Blend

After Chris died there was a simple question that kept coming up at the winery. How do we keep his Portuguese story moving forward.

The answer was to take those same Portuguese varieties and let them speak in a different way. Instead of using them only for vintage fortified wines, the family began to experiment with a dry red blend. The wine that emerged became The Prince, created in Chris’s honour and named for his well-known nickname.

The first two vintages were made by his son, seventh generation winemaker Simon Killeen. As a young winemaker he had grown up working alongside Chris in the cellar and knew the Portuguese blocks well. Each vintage of The Prince is blended slightly differently, but the style has settled into a medium bodied, savoury and very food friendly red that feels at home in Rutherglen while nodding to Iberia.

Simon passed away in 2025. When we open those early bottles of The Prince now, they feel like a direct line back to both Chris and Simon and to the time they spent together in the winery.

Wendy and Natasha, custodians of the Portuguese story

Today the Portuguese story at Stanton & Killeen continues with a mother and daughter team, Wendy and Natasha Killeen, the current custodians of the winery. Natasha represents the seventh generation of continuous family ownership.

Together they are investing in Portuguese varieties for the long term. In recent years they have planted white grapes such as Arinto and Alvarinho and continue to nurture the established red Portuguese vines that Chris first put in the ground. Each decision in the vineyard is made with one eye on the changing climate and the other on how these varieties can thrive in Rutherglen for generations to come.

The Prince sits at the heart of this journey. It gathers together our fortified heritage, our love of Portuguese varieties and a modern, medium bodied red style that belongs on the table.

The Prince Museum Release

To mark our 150th anniversary we have opened the museum cellar and released a small number of mixed six packs of The Prince from our family collection.

Each Prince Museum Release mixed six pack includes

• 1 bottle of 2013 The Prince Iberian Blend

• 2 bottles of 2015 The Prince Iberian Blend

• 1 bottle of 2016 The Prince Iberian Blend

• 1 bottle of 2017 The Prince Iberian Blend

• 1 bottle of 2022 The Prince Iberian Blend

The earlier vintages have been quietly resting in our cool cellars and are drinking beautifully now, with layers of spice, savoury complexity and silky tannins. The 2022 is our current release and has the structure and freshness to continue to cellar.

Across these five vintages you can see how the Portuguese varieties respond to different seasons and how the style has evolved, while still feeling unmistakably like The Prince.

This is a genuine one-time Museum Release. Once these packs have found their homes there will be no further release of these vintages from our cellar.

You can read more about the pack and purchase it here:

Museum Release: The Prince 6 Pack

From our family to yours, thank you for giving these wines a place at your table and for being part of our 150th year.