Hugo Gramp The man behind the wine

Hugo Gramp

The man behind the wine

A MAN OF POWER AND INFLUENCE WITHIN THE AUSTRALIAN WINE INDUSTRY, HUGO GRAMP HAD A HUMBLE DISPOSITION THAT EARNED HIM THE RESPECT AND ADMIRATION OF THOSE WHO KNEW HIM. HE DEMONSTRATED HIS PASSION FOR WINE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL FLAIR AT AN EARLY AGE. THE ICONIC AUSTRALIAN RED ST HUGO HONOURS HIS LEGACY REPRESENTING HIS CORE VALUES OF QUALITY, PERSISTENCE AND DEPTH.

Louis Hugo Gramp was born 19th September 1895 at Rowland Flat in the Barossa Valley. He was the last of nine children of Gustav & Johanna Gramp, and grandson of Bavarian immigrant Johann Gramp who planted the Barossa’s first commercial vineyard in 1847.

He became Managing Director of the family business G.Gramp & Sons in 1920 when he was just 25 years of age. During his time as Managing Director since 1920 and Chairman since 1927, Hugo’s energy and vision resulted in enormous sales expansion and the erection of the main buildings and maturation cellars that exist at the Rowland Flat winery today.

He increased the capacity of the winery to 3,500,000 gallons (15,911,315 litres) and expanded the sales by opening branches beyond Adelaide including Sydney in 1927, Perth in 1931 and Brisbane in 1936. This established Gramp & Sons as one of the leading winery businesses in Australia.

On 25 October 1938, Hugo Gramp was flying from Adelaide to Melbourne with two other prominent wine industry members, Thomas Hardy and Sidney Hill Smith, to discuss new proposals vital to the industry that had been issued by the Federal Viticultural Council. The small DC-2 plane named ‘Kyeema’ that they were travelling on encountered heavy cloud on its approach into Essendon Airport and crashed into Mount Dandenong, instantly taking the lives of all 18 people on board. Hugo Gramp was 43. He is remembered as a man of elegance, great influence and the highest integrity, who was an ambitious business leader, a respected family man and a pillar of the burgeoning Australian wine industry.

The first St Hugo wine was a 1980 vintage of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon that was released in 1983 to honour the legacy of Hugo Gramp.

As a connoisseur of fine wines, Hugo Gramp would have been proud of it, as it was a wine of such profound depth and complexity that it was immediately hailed as one of the wines of the year.

From 1983 until 2011, St Hugo represented a single wine, its signature Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2011 the range was expanded to include other fine quality red wines from Hugo’s homeland of the Barossa including St Hugo Barossa Shiraz.

The flagship St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet has earned over 1000 wine show awards since its first release and has exceeded 30 vintages, but was not made in 1995 not 2011 in years when the vintage was deemed not worthy of the exacting high quality standards of St Hugo.

St Hugo has earned a position in Langton’s Classification V and Classification VI of Australian wines, thus being recognised as one of the most highly sought after Australia wines in the fine wine secondary auction market. He is remembered as a man of elegance, great influence and the highest integrity, who was an ambitious business leader, a respected family man and a pillar of the burgeoning Australian wine industry.

The Passion and the Pride

Protecting Australia’s Family Wine Heritage

As the HEART AND SOUL of Australian wine, the families feel a very real RESPONSIBILITY TO PROFILE THE QUALITY OF AUSTRALIAN, FAMILY MADE WINE, from some of the land’s most iconic vineyards, from one region or many for the benefit of all. - Australia’s First Families of Wine.

They are our national treasures, their stories are woven into the fabric of our wine-making heritage; yet they can also succumb to the fragility of the economic world. In unpredictable times such as these, consumers and the trade should consider our role in supporting our families of wine as they continue on our wine industry narrative for the future.

Australia’s First Families of Wine is an inspired initiative that tapped into the collective strength of eleven of Australia’s oldest and most respected family -owned, multi-generational wineries. Collectively they boast 1,310 years of winemaking experience.

They are also the custodians of some of Australia’s most revered vineyards. Generations have nurtured soils and vines over the decades and sometimes centuries to craft wines of unrivaled history and provenance.

Then there is the future; the new generations who receive the knowledge and expertise from those family members who have come before them. With them they hold these stories and pass down their winemaking secrets. Without these transitions how would these wines continue to deliver each and every vintage? How could generations of consumers appreciate the beauty of these family produced wines and taste the passion if it were not for this personal investment? These wines are the product of passion and pride and of people who stake their name on its excellence.

Drinks Trade celebrates and supports each of them on the following pages. We invite you to do the same.

BROWN BROTHERS

From a Band of Brothers to a new generation

Brown Brothers was founded in 1889 by our great grandfather, John Francis Brown and after 130 years and four generations of Brown Brothers (and many sisters) later, we may be steeped in history, but we stomp our grapes for tomorrow’s taste buds.

This is why we pioneered Prosecco and Moscato in Australia; blended Cabernet Sauvignon with Sumoll and called it Cienna - a new world grape variety developed by the CSIRO; and set up our micro-winery called the ‘kindergarten’ where there’s a lot of playtime and hardly any rules.

As Ross Brown (third-generation) says; ‘We are a wine company with tradition, but we’re not a traditional wine company’.

We’re proud of our wine, each other, and those who came before us. Since 1889 we’ve been in the Milawa region of the King Valley – that’s a lot of vintages. We have sipped a few Chardonnays in our time and discovered some delicious new varieties, and thrown a few experiments out the window.

Four generations of winemakers later, we’re still as excited by a new release glass of sparkling; or that 1980 Malbec that comes out of the cellar on special occasions; or the new favourite drop we know we’re yet to create.

While we’ve collected a few laurels on our bottles, we’re not even tempted to rest on them. Instead, we use them to spur us forward; to push us beyond the status quo; to keep our minds sharp and our palates fresh; to keep us making wine for people and making sure it’s perfectly delicious.

Our mission is to create and share adventures in wine, so we invite you to join us in Milawa in Victoria’s stunning King Valley to discover something new.

With Katherine, Caroline and Emma Brown all working full-time within various roles across the business and Ross Brown, Cynthia Brown and Eliza Brown representing the family on the Board, the future of the family business is in good hands.

CAMPBELLS WINES

Family Pioneering-Spirit

Campbells is a fifth-generation family owned wine business celebrating 150 years of winemaking success in Rutherglen, Victoria.

In the 1860’s, founder John Campbell arrived in Rutherglen, Victoria from St Andrews in Scotland in search of gold.

After gold ran out on the ‘Bobbie Burns’ gold mine, John Campbell bought the land opposite and named his new property ‘Bobbie Burns’ thereby establishing what is now Campbells Wines.

Five generations of Campbells in Rutherglen have since established what is now a respected name in the Australian Wine Industry. The pioneering and stoic Scottish spirit has seen the family overcome drought, phylloxera the great depression and many challenges in the family business. The character, history and tenacity of the Campbells family is evident in every glass with wines that are renowned for their balance and complexity.

Campbells are famous for their world class Rutherglen Muscats and Topaques, crisp whites and full flavoured red table wines including Bobbie Burns Shiraz and The Barkly Durif.

Jane Campbell as Managing Director and Julie Campbell as Winemaker now carry on the family tradition alongside the Campbells team. They are committed and very keen to progress their winery forward ever mindful of the solid foundation their father Colin Campbell helped to build.

Campbells are a proud member of Australia’s First Families of Wine.

HOWARD PARK WINES

A Great Southern Story

Howard Park Wines, run by two generations of the Burch Family, is a pioneering West Australian family-owned winery, producing a range of handcrafted fine Australian wines from the state’s premier grape growing regions - Margaret River and the Great Southern.

Since its inception in 1986, Howard Park had been an early adopter of multiregional fruit sourcing; a champion of the cool-climate Great Southern wine region and the world-renowned Margaret River, and inspired and driven by the notion that premium wine can only come from excellent fruit. This founding philosophy has ensured that Howard Park uses only the finest fruit from the Margaret River and the Great Southern; and has seen the Burch Family and their winemaking and viticultural teams build an intellectual database of regions, vineyards, blocks and clones in their hunt for the best fruit. Now their Margaret River vineyards, Leston and Allingham, and the Great Southern vineyard, Abercrombie, make up the cornerstone of Howard Park’s Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon production.

The wines the Burch family create are not just celebrations of the two distinct regions from which they grow their fruit. They are also celebrations of the history and legacy of the family, with two of their iconic wines, the Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon and Allingham Chardonnay being named after two special Burch family members, Walter Abercrombie and Muriel Allingham.

Commitment to the original Howard Park values of continual improvement, excellence and innovation runs through every endeavour, and the last 30 years has been an era of both innovation and growth for Howard Park and the Burch Family – from the purchase of longstanding grower vineyards, Abercrombie in the Great Southern and Allingham in Margaret River, and the development of sustainability programs including the use of biodynamic and organic principles, to the large-scale in-house compost production, the establishment of an on premise nursery, successful implementation of a méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine program, and their children coming on board to take up key roles within Howard Park.

A celebration of innovation and terroir is at the heart of Howard Park.

JIM BARRY WINES

The Champion of the Clare Valley

Certain names resonate strongly within the halls of Australian wine history. Jim Barry is one such name. Jim was the first qualified winemaker in the Clare Valley of South Australia, graduating with the 17th Degree in Oenology from the famous Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1947. Working for 22 years as winemaker at the Clarevale Co-operative, Jim Barry became a pioneer of Australian table wine, championing the planting of varieties such as Riesling, Shiraz, Cabernet and Malbec in the Clare Valley, at a time when fortified wines were still dominating the Australian wine landscape. He and wife, Nancy, established their own winery in 1959 and so began a family tradition of excellence and innovation in winemaking and viticulture.

Jim and Nancy’s second son, Peter, assumed the reins of Jim Barry Wines in 1985 and has continued to build on his father’s legacy. Indeed, Peter demonstrated his own pioneering spirit in the early 1980’s, at the height of the vine pull, when he and his brother, Mark, set about producing a great Australian Shiraz, a wine we now know as the iconic and world-renowned ‘The Armagh’ Shiraz. Never afraid to take a risk, in 2006, Peter began the process of importing the first Assyrtiko vines into Australia from Santorini after a chance tasting whilst on holiday. The wine was released commercially in 2016, marking a ten-year journey to produce the first Assyrtiko outside of Greece.

Today, Peter’s own sons, Tom and Sam, have taken over the day-to-day operations of the family business and have already shown their inherent drive to achieve excellence and champion innovation in the business. The boys have a genuine respect for the methods set down by their father and grandfather over the past 60 years, but are also determined to see the winery grow and evolve. Their most recent collaboration with Ernst Loosen of Germany’s Dr. Loosen Estate, epitomises their vision for the future. The LoosenBarry ‘Wolta Wolta’ Riesling pushes the boundaries of conventional thinking about Riesling. It is a wine unlike any that has been produced in Australia and is the beginning of another journey of discovery for Jim Barry Wines.

TAHBILK WINERY

Nagambie Lakes

The first overland route between Sydney and Melbourne (1838) passed through the land now known as Tabilk, following the tracks of Major Thomas Mitchell and his party of explorers in 1836. The Estate was originally part of a sheep station known as the Tabilk Run. Tabilk-tabilk, in local language, means “place of many waterholes”, and the extensive internal water system on the estate a testament to its name.

In 1860 a group of Melbourne businessmen purchased the property to establish a winery and vineyard. The first 65 acres of vineyard plantings occurred later that year including the original Shiraz vines that survived the Victorian outbreak of phylloxera in 1877 and are still producing today, dating them as some of the oldest in the world. In 1862 the original Winery buildings and ‘Old Cellar’ were completed, with the next major development the excavation of the ‘New Cellar’ in 1875. In 1877 Tabilk Vineyard became Chateau Tahbilk with the ‘h’ added to aid sales in Europe - and remained so named until this European moniker was dropped in 2000.

Tahbilk was purchased by Reginald Purbrick in 1925 and it was the Purbrick family’s tradition of pride, hard work, pioneering spirit and a love of good wine that breathed new life into Tahbilk. It started with Reginald’s son, Eric Stevens Purbrick, who spent some early time at Tahbilk in the 1920s before taking on full time management and winemaking responsibilities in 1931.

Eric guided Tahbilk through more than 45 vintages and was one of the first to place his faith in the future of Australian table wines. To further support his vision, Eric was at the forefront of varietal labelling in Australia, giving the homegrown industry the inspiration to break from European labelling traditions.

Eric was joined by his son John in 1955, followed by John’s son Alister who, after graduating as an oenologist from Roseworthy College, took over the role as head winemaker and CEO. in 1979.

Alister remains at the helm to this day.

Tahbilk’s Priceless Inheritance continues with fifth generation Hayley Purbrick, (Alister’s daughter) joining the business in 2009, responsible for overseeing Tahbilk’s environmental, digital and business improvements. She has driven the achievement of Tahbilk’s ‘CarboNZero’ certification in 2012, one of the first wineries in Australia to achieve this important accreditation.

Tahbilk is celebrating its 160th anniversary in 2020 and as Victoria’s oldest family owned winery, the family have a vision for the future as they look to 2025 – 100 years of Purbrick family ownership.

TAYLORS WINES

Pioneers from Grape to Glass

The Taylor family has a long history of challenging the status quo, starting with their first plantings in the Clare Valley in 1969.

“My grandfather went against convention at the time and planted Cabernet Sauvignon when the popular styles of the day were all fortified wines. His vision was ahead of its time, and it still guides us today,” third generation Managing Director and Winemaker Mitchell Taylor said.

Today the third-generation who work in the business, aim to inspire this passion for innovation across the entire business. Under the mantra ‘respect the fruit’, the Taylors feel more than ever that the enjoyment a wine drinker feels when having a glass of Taylors wines starts in the vineyard.

“Our goal is to instill in our business a ceaseless enthusiasm towards the craft and care of our wines - from grape through to glass - to ensure the experience a person has is one they will always remember,” MItchell said.

This isn’t more apparent than in Taylors dedication to the screw cap closure, which began exactly 20 years ago, when Taylors and a group of other Clare Valley wineries decided to ditch the cork in favour of the new closure for their 2000 vintage release rieslings.

“We’d put so much work into crafting these wines, it was crazy to think we were risking them by using cork. That’s why we were the first winery in the world to move to screw caps completely for reds and whites.”

Today, Taylors uses the closure across all of its wines, including its ultra-premium release The Legacy, released in 2019 as part of the family’s 50th anniversary. The cap also features a world-first innovation in authenticity. Owners of this rare wine can scan the installed NFC (Near Field Communication) chip with their smartphone to check the authenticity of the wine and access cellaring notes through the dedicated Taylors Wines app.

“It’s about completing the journey of the wine, from when it’s picked in the vineyard through to when it lands in the buyer’s hands. Every step along the way is an opportunity to tell the Taylors story,” Mitchell said.

TYRRELL’S

Five generations of Tyrrells in the Hunter

Established in 1858, Tyrrell’s is one of Australia’s pre-eminent and oldest familyowned wineries with vineyards extending from their historic home in the Hunter Valley to Heathcote. It is headed up by fourth-generation family member Bruce Tyrrell, and fifth-generation Jane, John and Chris Tyrrell.

Our wine business has been in the family for over 160 years, which is an amazing thing. We are lucky enough to make wine from vines planted by our great great grandfather in a time when they had no electricity or any of the luxuries we have today. It is an honour to work with these wonderful assets - Chris Tyrrell, fifth generation.

There have been numerous monumental moments which saw the Tyrrells put the Hunter Valley on the world wine map. In 1963 Tyrrells released the iconic Vat 1 Hunter Semillon, now one of Australia’s most awarded white wines. Considered controversial at the time, in 1973 Tyrrells was the first Australian winery to mature Chardonnay in French oak and enter it into a wine show.

The Tyrrells have been through many phases of change over the last 160 years adapting to changes in the industry, the economy and the family members of the time. The consistent factor throughout time has been our love of the Hunter Valley and the wines that it makes. It runs through the veins of the family. We have been amongst the very few people lucky enough to work with something truly unique in the world of wine, Hunter Semillon, and have become close to the perfection of its style. In another 160 years, my wish is that the family is still here on our original land making wines that are of exceptional quality and distinctive to the Hunter Valley - Bruce Tyrrell, managing director.

With the fifth generation, Jane, John and Chris, involved in the business, Tyrrell’s will continue to drive family as being pinnacle to the ethos of the company, with the simple philosophy of producing high-quality wine that people love to drink.

The closeness of our operation, and the family nature of it, means we can consistently make wines that are relevant to the drinking public - Jane Tyrrell, fifth generation.

I look forward to continuing to push the barriers of quality in viticulture and winemaking whilst never forgetting the deeds of the people that got us here - Chris Tyrrell, fifth generation.

HENSCHKE

Six generations of Henschke family winemaking

HONOURING A PROUD HERITAGE AND CREATING THE FUTURE. The first commercial release of a Henschke wine was in 1868. Initially, first-generation winemaker Johann Christian made wines for his family and friends, however demand inevitably grew and wines were made for sale.

Fourth-generation Cyril Henschke pioneered varietal and single-vineyard wines, with his greatest legacy being the creation of Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone in the 1950s; shiraz wines from Eden Valley that have become an integral part of Australia’s fine wine story.

In the early 1980s, fifth-generation Stephen and Prue became pioneers of viticulture in Lenswood, a sub-region of the cool-climate Adelaide Hills.

The sixth generation, Johann, Justine and Andreas are all actively involved in continuing on the family winemaking tradition; they are mindful of their role as custodians of the Henschke vineyards and their need to nurture them for future generations.

LIVING WITHIN THE AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE. As a current custodian of the Henschke vineyards, viticulturist Prue Henschke’s days are divided between various ‘gardens’. In the oldest garden, the Hill of Grace vineyard, the vines are over 150 years of age, among the most ancient in the world.

The gardens include 109ha of vineyard, 32ha of native trees and 150ha of bushland under conservation.

Prue and Stephen Henschke’s philosophy is a holistic one – to ensure the created environment sits in a healthy balance with the natural landscape.

The principles of biodynamics and organics enable them to create the best environment for plant growth; soil health has been improved by adding compost to build up organic matter, and plantings of local native species have been able to provide an ecosystem service to help with pest and disease control.

HENSCHKE IS RECOGNISED FOR ITS RICH HERITAGE, INNOVATIVE SPIRIT AND COMMITMENT TO HANDCRAFTING EXCEPTIONAL WINES FOR OVER 150 YEARS. The Henschke Cellar Door, now housed in the original 1860s Grain Barn at the family property in Keyneton, was built from field-stone and mud by first-generation winemaker Johann Christian Henschke, a stonemason and wheelwright by trade. One of the remaining dry-stone walls built by Johann Christian has been preserved to become a feature of the Henschke tasting experience.

Henschke offers an extensive range, with a focus on ultra-premium, singlevineyard and small parcel wines, beautifully handcrafted by fifth-generation Stephen and Prue Henschke, from sustainably grown vineyards using organic and biodynamic practices in the Eden Valley, Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills. A selection of these are available for tasting at Cellar Door.

MCWILLIAMS

Building on six generations of Australian experience

McWilliam’s is a family-owned and operated winery with 140 years of winemaking knowledge and passion passed down through six consecutive generations of winemakers, who have pioneered and championed the very best of New South Wales wine regions.

It all began when Samuel McWilliam first settled on the outskirts of Corowa where he planted his first vines in 1877. After retiring from winemaking in 1891, Samuel left the ‘Sunnyside’ vineyard and winery in the hands of two of his five sons, John James (J.J.) and Thomas, and his eldest of four daughters, Eliza Jane, who also turned her hand to the family craft, becoming one of Australia’s first female winemakers. It was J.J. (1868-1951) who continued the family’s winemaking tradition, eventually leaving Corowa and establishing his own vineyard in the Riverina region around 1896 and subsequently the ‘Mark View’ winery in 1904. In 1913, J.J. and his eldest son, Laurence John (Jack) took up two adjacent irrigation blocks in the newly opened Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area near the village of Hanwood. Today, McWilliam’s has a rich portfolio of award-winning wines sourced from premium vineyards across the state’s cool climate landscapes in Hilltops, Tumbarumba and Canberra, and the expansive plains of the Riverina. McWilliam’s wines showcase regional specific characters, superior quality, impressive depth and full flavour expression.

YALUMBA

Family Winemakers since 1849

As Australia’s oldest family-owned wine company, established in 1849, Yalumba is the embodiment of the pioneering spirit of one of this country’s first wine families.

Fifth-generation Chairman, Robert Hill Smith, has recently welcomed the sixth generation, his daughter Jessica, into the fold and so his family’s involvement continues.

Now one of the most recognisable brands in Australia, this wasn’t always the case, with early generations often facing adversity, which they faced with grit and passion to find the solutions to their many challenges.

Their story began with Samuel Smith, a brewer from Dorset, England, who set sail for the far climes of Australia in search of a new life for his family. The year was 1847 when Samuel, his wife and children arrived in South Australia to a very different landscape from the one they had left behind. Heading north on a bullock dray, they settled in the small town of Angaston in the verdant Barossa Valley. Samuel found work as a gardener for George Fife Angas for whom the town was named.

There began a tale of hard work and determination, with Samuel finding his feet quickly in his new world, leasing his first 30-acre property. Planting vegetables to sell, he also planted some grapevines, using cuttings given to him by the Angas family. Trying his hand in the goldfields of Victoria with his son Sidney, Samuel found gold and returned home to purchase a further eighty acres of land and some equipment. Naming his property Yalumba – an Indigenous word for ‘all the land around’, Samuel and Sidney planted the first official Yalumba vineyard and the rest, they say, is history.

So followed four more generations of Smiths and then Hill Smiths (4th generation), inspired by the spirit, dedication, business acumen and talent for winemaking shown by founder Samuel, his son Sidney and his four eldest sons, putting Yalumba on the winemaking map. Navigating their way through world wars, family tragedies, the Great Depression, droughts and flooding rains, oversupply, financial challenges and changing wine trends, the fifth and sixth generations of the family continue to drive the business forward in the modern era. The years of knowledge, experience, innovation and tales of adversity and success are inherent in each generation, including this one, as they steer their family business to the next chapter.

D’ARENBERG

Modern thinking meets century-old traditions

Since 1912 the Osborn family have tended vineyards in McLaren Vale, South Australia. Four generations have shaped d’Arenberg into a world-renowned winery, blending modern thinking with a deep respect for time honoured methods of winemaking and grape growing to produce wines of distinction.

Back in 1912 Joseph Osborn sold his stable of prize-winning racehorses to purchase the d’Arenberg property in McLaren Vale, where he worked the land and planted the vineyards.

Joseph’s son Frank left medical school to work alongside his father, choosing pruning shears over a scalpel. Over the years Frank increased the size of the vineyard and sold fruit to local wineries until 1927, when he decided to build his own winery and make his own wine.

In 1943 Frank’s son d’Arry returned from school at the age of 16 to help his father run the business, eventually assuming full management in 1957. In 1959 d’Arry launched his own label named in honour of his mother, Helena d’Arenberg. He created the iconic red stripe and a unique family crest that adorns each bottle. The Red Stripe was inspired by d’Arry’s happy memories of his school days at Prince Alfred College, where he wore the crimson and white striped school tie.

Today, fourth generation family member Chester Osborn is at the winemaking helm, making distinctive wines using traditional methods in the winery and the vineyard.

From entry level to iconic, all d’Arenberg wines are basket pressed with red wines foot trod during fermentation. Known for an eclectic portfolio of oddly named wines, the d’Arenberg wine range is considerable, with over 70 wines, made using 37 different grape varieties, you’re certain to find something you’ll love.

In 2017, construction was completed on the d’Arenberg Cube, a five storey multi-function building set among Mourvèdre vines. The d’Arenberg Cube includes a new tasting room, restaurant, private tasting areas and state of the art facilities on each level.