Family plants roots for a healthy future
NEW wine businesses are often the result of "unplanned pregnancies" -- grape growers who suddenly find there is no market for their grapes, so have the wine contract-made -- or people who establish a distraction from the humdrum of a weekday job but with no business plan and frequently without adequate capital.
Bremerton 2004 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
When Craig and Mignonne Willson bought historic Bremerton Lodge (built in 1866) in Langhorne Creek, they had carefully thought out an adequately financed business plan. The only uncertainty was whether either or both of their daughters, Rebecca and Lucy, would find the idea of grape growing and winemaking an attractive career opportunity.
Work on restoring the two-storey limestone homestead began in 1987 and was completed in 1991. Restoration of the barn and stables, which now house the cellar door, was completed in 1994. In the meantime, a second (jointly owned) property (Kilpuruna) was bought in 1988, and 2ha of cabernet sauvignon and 1.2ha of shiraz were planted in 1991, since progressively expanded to 73ha.
The first plantings on the home Bremerton Lodge vineyard followed in 1992, soon extended to 40ha. Overall, the plantings have focused on cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot, with smaller amounts of sauvignon blanc, verdelho, chardonnay, malbec and petit verdot.
In 1988 the Willsons bought a small batch of cabernet sauvignon from the 25-year-old plantings of neighbour Cleggett Wines and had the wine (an experimental 52 dozen bottles) made at Mitchell in the Clare Valley. Steadily increasing amounts were bought from Cleggett until 1995, after which (up to 1999) the grapes were secured from others, including Bill Potts, production reaching 7500 cases in 1996.
One unexpected event was the December 1992 flood, the second worst on record, which devastated buildings and nascent vineyards alike. In best Australian fashion it led to a decision to expand the grape-growing and winemaking enterprises.
In 1996, winemaking was moved to Bleasdale, and by 1998 Rebecca had declared her hand as winemaker, supervising the fermentation there before moving the wine back to the stage one winery at Bremerton. In that year, too, plantings at Kilpuruna were completed.
In 2000, stage two of the maturation winery was completed, a temperature-controlled facility for 1000 barrels and 200 pallets of packaged wine. Remarkably, one might think, this was the first year that grapes from the Bremerton vineyards were included in the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Up to that point Bremerton had opted to sell almost all its grapes (some were used for lower-priced wines in the range) and buy grapes from older vineyards.
Two years later, a new standalone fermentation winery was completed in time for the 2002 vintage, with Rebecca in charge, the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon coming entirely from estate-grown grapes. The winery is able to process the entire 35,000-case production of the 17 wines (some export only) in the Bremerton range.
Bremerton acquired a degree of notoriety last year when an enterprising journalist decided I had preferred its 2004 Old Adam Shiraz (then $38) to 2002 Penfolds Grange ($500) and 2002 Henschke Hill of Grace ($550), even though they all received 97 points. With sister Lucy responsible for marketing, Bremerton decided to celebrate its 20th birthday with a tasting of all the cabernet sauvignons made between 1988 and 2006 as the centrepiece and selected vintages of Old Adam in a support role.
While the length and severity of the drought could not have been foreseen 20 years ago, Bremerton has kept its vineyard management practices and water options as open as possible, and faces the future with as much confidence as anyone in the region can.