Majella Wines
The Lynn families have been residents of the Penola Coonawarra district for over four generations, starting out as store keepers and then graduating into grazing. The property on which Majella now stands was originally owned by Frank Lynn, and bought by his nephew, George, in 1960. George and Pat Lynn kept merino's for wool production on their farm about 10 miles away, and had always wanted some good Coonawarra country for their up and coming prime lamb enterprise. Viticulture, however, was not on their agenda until 1968.
In 1980 we sold our first grapes to Wynn's Coonawarra Estate (now part of the Fosters group). This was the start of a long relationship between Wynn's and Majella, a relationship that continued for over 20 years. Since 1989 we have continued planting new vineyards and a present we have about 150 acres or 60 hectares under vine. Most of the new plantings have been Cabernet Sauvignon, but there are some small areas of Merlot and Riesling planted as well. We'd always made a bit of wine up from our own grapes, and knew that the quality was very good. After prompting from many of our peers we finally bit the bullet and in 1991 made up 600 cases or so of Shiraz.
The wine was vintaged at Brand's Laira winery under the ever watchful eye of their winemaker, Bruce Gregory. This hit the market in 1993 and was received exceptionally well. The wine was good, the packaging looked good and we sold out in no time. We continued with the Shiraz in 1992 and 1993 and then in 1994 we released our first Cabernet as well. Tony always wanted Sparkling Red so the now famous Majella Sparkling Shiraz was born. We only make this in small quantities so it sells out very quickly. Winemaker Bruce was taken with the idea of creating a super premium blend. We had resisted this for a while but in 1996 we let him have his head. The wine was named Malleea, an aboriginal word meaning green paddock, and was released in June 1998. The critics have so far acclaimed The Malleea by Majella as one of Australia's great red wines. We have continued using Brand's winemaking facilities until the present day.
By late 1995 we realised that Majella needed a Cellar Door Sales and office facility, a barrel shed together with facilities was designed and construction and finished in late 1996. Our production level soon reached the stage where our own winemaking facilities were warranted, and enough high tech winemaking equipment was installed to keep us poor for years to come. Bruce Gregory joined us as winemaker in January 1999 and produced a crackerjack vintage first up.
We have made a commitment to keep producing wines of an extremely high standard. Our crush is slowly increasing and we should start to see more premium Majella wine out there in the marketplace.
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Phone: 08 8736 3055 Fax: 08 8736 3057 |
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