One of Australia’s original vineyards is proudly certified organic — and producing some of our nation’s best wines. Matt Redin, marketing manager from Angove Family Winemakers, tells us more.
Tell us about the Angove Family Winemakers story.
Angove Family Winemakers is one of Australia’s largest privately owned wine companies, standing out as one of the few with strong interests in winemaking and distilling as well as grape growing.
The Angove family’s winemaking history began in 1886 when Dr William Angove emigrated to Australia from Cornwall. He established a medical practice at Tea Tree Gully and, along with other doctors at the time, including Dr Lindeman and Dr Penfold, began cultivating vines and making wine.
In 1910, Dr Angove was succeeded by his son, Thomas Carlyon “Skipper” Angove, who made the pioneering move to establish a winery at Renmark in the South Australian Riverland. At the time, there was no winemaking or distilling activity in the region. Renmark was struggling economically and the winery’s move to the district assured the settlement’s survival.
From that visionary move, the Riverland has developed into the largest wine-grape-growing district in Australia and is the backbone of booming export activity that has kept the Australian wine industry in global focus. Fast forward to 2006 and Angove began converting sections of its Nanya vineyard to be certified organic. Fifteen years later, the entire vineyard of 250+ hectares is now certified and is a showpiece for modern, sustainable organic viticulture and grape growing, and Angove is Australia’s leading organic winemaker.
The Angove family’s stunning Warboys Vineyard in McLaren Vale that surrounds our exquisite cellar door there is also fully Certified Organic and produces premium organic Shiraz and Grenache based red wines of exceptional quality, under the Warboys Vineyard brand, and a delightful organic Fiano sold under our Wild Olive range. It is the perfect place to relax and unwind.
If a reader was new to Angove, which product in your range should they start with and why?
Angove Organic Rosé. This fantastic wine is Australia in a bottle. Packed full of bright summer berry flavours with a crisp clean finish, it pairs perfectly with a huge variety of foods, from a fresh salad to seafood, spicy Asian cuisine and even a creamy vegetarian risotto.
Organic certification is important to Angove; tell our readers more about your organic offering/s.
All our wines and promotional material proudly display the “bud” logo. We see it as a real symbol of the authenticity of our organic status and dedication to being truly organic, rather than just making the claim. We know that we, and other certified organic producers, must go through rigorous testing and auditing to be able to display the bud logo so it is a symbol of the hard work of all involved to maintain our certified organic status. It is extremely frustrating that Australian labelling laws have not followed the lead of other countries and stipulated that to use the word organic as part of a brand name, the product must be certified.
What is one of the highlights of your organic journey to date?
While there have been many highlights, one that really stands out is being awarded Business of the Year at the 2019 Australian Organic Industry Awards presented by Australian Certified Organic. This award was recognition that the hard work needed to convert our vineyards to become certified organic, craft the grapes into delicious wines and then take them to the world was all worthwhile.
Where can we buy Angove products?
The Angove Organic range is available at more than 2000 independent liquor stores throughout Australia as well as at all Dan Murphy’s, BWS, First Choice and Liquorland outlets. If you are travelling overseas, they can also be found in New Zealand, Japan, the USA, the UK, Canada, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Kenya plus many other countries.
Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about Angove?
At Angove Family Winemakers, a unique natural “taskforce” stands proudly, protecting the delicate vineyards that are cared for with the Angove “Gentle Touch” methodology. The task force, made up of the Indian Runner ducks, microbats, rose bushes and honey bees, are carefully used to ensure environmental balance and sustainability that delivers best-in-class certified organic wine.
Indian Runner ducks: Our Indian Runner ducks help control the snail population and prevent them from munching on new buds and young, soft shoots. They are essential to maintaining the vineyards in a natural way without the use of pesticides.
Microbats: Microbats live in the native eucalypts among the vineyards and naturally control insect species.
Bees: Bees are crucial to a healthy and thriving vineyard. The bees within the vineyard act as insect security guards, making the beneficial insects feel safe and protected, and encouraging them to stay and defend the vineyard.
Rose bushes: Roses are planted at the end of each row of vines as an early warning system for unwanted mildew that may be detrimental if it gains a foothold on the vines.
For more information visit angove.com.au or call 08 8580 3100.
