TWENTY-ONE YEARS - OUR STORY 1988 - 2009

In 1987, my then wife Kyra, (who sadly didn’t live to see the total fruits of her labour) and I decided to return from Melbourne, where we were living, to settle in the North of the state. What were we to do to keep us occupied?

My former school mate, Edward Butler, had established Holm Oak Vineyard at Rowella and said – “the wine industry is going places here – you should grab a slice of the action”. So we did. With no background, other than engineering and gardening we plunged in. Interestingly, the vintage tonnage for Tasmania in 1988 was about 800 tonnes contrasting with 11,000 today.

We commenced with the help of Edward’s son Nicholas and Fred Peacock (of Bream Creek Wines fame) who was then, an Agricultural Department grape guru. What to plant? We preferred white wines so that was it. The drinkers would simply have to adjust their preferences. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chenin Blanc were planted in 1998. As it turned out, a bit too much Chardonnay and the Chenin Blanc didn’t perform and was pulled out quite early.

Year three arrived and, amazingly, we picked about 11 tonnes of fruit.

Who was to make our wine? Almost out of the blue came Andrew Hood, not long back in the state and looking for business. What a stroke of luck!

With the fruit of our first crop we decided to use no barrel treatment and sell the end result to someone for blending into their wine. We discovered, with some wonderment, that unwooded white wines were really rather more attractive than the traditional wooded versions.

We made an historic decision, there and then, that we would pioneer un-wooded whites in Tasmania. Once again the drinker would have to adjust accordingly.

Hoping to become participants in Tasmania’s youthful wine industry we submitted two wines into a show in Hobart. The entries were Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend; having decided the Semillon added a pleasing variation to the straight Sauvignon Blanc, which we found a bit over-powering.

Surprise, surprise. Breaking all the “rules”, the unwooded Chardonnay was chosen as the best white wine in the state for 1992 and in 1997, we repeated this performance with the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc blend!!! Clearly, the drinkers had fallen into line and so had the judges!

So where are we now as we celebrate 20 years in the wine industry? About two and half times the original vineyard size.

Since Andrew Hood, and some vintages with other winemakers, we have extended our range of wines which include Kyra Sparkling Chardonnay/Pinot Gris. An acknowledgement of Kyra’s skills and contribution to our venture.

For more than 15 years, our dedicated staff and friends, Errol Wilcox, his wife Cecilia and Margot Kennedy, have been critical to the success of our business. 

Errol and Cecilia manage the vineyard and Margot has juggled administration, marketing and the organisation of the cellar door. Numerous other loyal friends phone each year to help us with harvesting and pruning. My devoted companion and minder, Mary, balances the books and leads the charge into uncharted wine territory.

Our focus now centres on our very loyal and discerning mail order devotees. And we confine our wholesale distribution to the great state of Tasmania, Melbourne and sunny Queensland.

Where to next? Onward, of course.

Roderick Cuthbert, August 2008