In 1894 an artisan farmer named Herbert Hall arrived on a horse and cart in the village of Marden. He settled at the site that is now the Marden Vineyard.

He had little money and few possessions but he was a resourceful and determined man; he made his own tools and developed many of the organic preparations that helped to improve the soil.

An apocryphal story is told that he even took the belt from around his waist to fasten the gate of his first piece of land.