Ortus Wines is a South Australian family wine business whose story links back to the Bittner family, early settlers whose eight-acre vineyard shrank to four in tough conditions before the last vines died in the 1918 drought. The family crest's motto is 'Nothing without labour'.
In 1995 single mother Julie Cooper moved from Whyalla to Adelaide to work in a winery, rising over seven years from receptionist to cellar door manager, office manager and sales and marketing manager for Australasia, before going out on her own in global wine trading. Her daughter Paige joined the family business in 2009.
The cellar door opens seasonally.