Owned by Lesley McGilliviray, 62, the winery has been featured in this year's James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2008 edition.

It came as a shock for Ms McGilliviray, who first planted two "test rows" of Italian grapes on her Franklinford property back in 1988. The vineyard grows dolcetto, nebbiolo and pinot gris varieties.

Ms McGilliviray, her son Scott, family and friends have been wine making for 10 years on their vineyard.

But when she received an email informing her she had been selected for inclusion in the book, Ms McGilliviray thought it was a joke.

They had entered themselves in the Macedon Ranges Wine Competition, where, by chance, James Halliday sampled their wines.

"He was really impressed, we got a score of 89 for our red and 90 for our white, and four stars for the vineyard," Ms McGilliviray said.

"It's given everybody a sense of purpose and the extra drive we needed because last year was so difficult, being a drought year." she said.