Description
Brokenwood Wines
Established in 1970, Brokenwood Wines has evolved from a weekend venture for self-professed hobby winemakers into one of Australia’s most reputable wine labels.
Brokenwood was founded by a trio of Sydney-based solicitors, Tony Albert, John Beeston and James Halliday, who paid a then record price of $970 per acre for a 10-acre block in the foothills of the Brokenback Ranges. The original block was destined to be a cricket ground for the local community but was instead planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
Growth was steady until the boom of 1978, when six new partners joined, allowing the purchase of the next door Graveyard Vineyard. Originally destined to be a cemetery for the Parish of Pokolbin, it was never used as such and instead planted with Shiraz & Cabernet Sauvignon.
The heavy clay soil resulted in vintages of low yield, but with extraordinary concentration of flavour in the berries, providing a distinctive wine style that is still evident in the Brokenwood red wines. The Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz is Brokenwood’s flagship wine, which is still sourced exclusively from this one vineyard.
In the same year, Brokenwood sourced fruit from outside the Hunter Valley for the first time – Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra, which was blended with Hunter fruit to make a premium red, creating the style that has been synonymous with Brokenwood for the last 20 years.
Brokenwood Wines celebrates the grand opening of the new cellar door and The Wood Restaurant building in December 2018.
In 2019 after only being open for five short months Brokenwood took out best Cellar Door of the year at the Hunter Valley Legends Awards. Kate Sturgess is promoted to Winemaker. Brokenwood installed LED Lighting across the entire site, and supplemented onsite energy usage with a 99kW Solar PV array, this has reduced energy usage by 23%.
Iain Riggs AM retires in 2020 as Managing Director and Chief Winemaker, with Stuart Hordern taking over as head of the winemaking team.
Amongst the Covid-19 challenges of 2020 Brokenwood Wines reach a milestone, turning 50 years old!
Brokenwood’s two flagships wines win major awards in the 2021 Halliday Wine Companion, with the 2018 Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz winning the ‘Wine of the Year’ trophy, and 2014 ILR Reserve Semillon ranking #1 in the ‘Best Semillon’ category!
The varietal Hunter Valley Semillon takes out the best current vintage Semillon three years in a row at the Hunter Valley Wine show awards for vintages 2020, 2021 & 2022.
The Hunter Valley vineyards; Graveyard, Tallawanta, Mistress Block, and Verona achieved a Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) certification in June of 2021, with the Oakey Creek Vineyard being certified in December of 2022. Read more about our sustainability journey here.
Brokenwood launches the Twenty70 brand on the 1st of December 2022, paving the way for a new sustainable style of wine, led by Winemaker Kate Sturgess.
