CHAPTER 23 | 1980–1982 – Out of the Cold
Near the old gold town of Beechworth, Brown Brothers assistant winemaker Rick Kinzbrunner planted a new vineyard in 1982, foreshadowing a brilliant leap forward in Australian chardonnay. Born in Queensland, Kinzbrunner studied mechanical engineering before taking off to work vintages in New Zealand, California, and Bordeaux. Beechworth had become a booming settlement following the discovery of gold during the 1850s and 1860s. The first attempts to establish a small wine industry back then failed, probably because of the dwindling population after the gold rush. Kinzbrunner recognised the potential of the higher elevations, degraded granitic soils, and rocky terrain. Initially, plantings included cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, and pinot noir, reflecting the received wisdom of the day; the roussanne grape followed sometime later. But as the decades progressed, this particularly innovative and perceptive winemaker adapted his south-facing vineyard to more enlightened viticulture, such as organic and sustainable practices, and his engineering skills and a strong affinity with his land led to the construction of winery buildings using local materials. The release of the 1986 Giaconda Chardonnay began a series of vintages that revealed the extraordinary fidelity of his vineyard site. By 2018, the vineyard was fully certified as organic by the Bio Dynamic Research Institute (BDRI). . . . Around 1982, a surprisingly experienced winemaker, considering his age, burst onto the scenes after a decade-long rise through the ranks at Lindeman’s. Roseworthy graduate Philip Shaw, who began his wine career washing bottles at Penfolds Magill Estate in Adelaide, would become one of the most influential winemakers of the 1990s and a controversial figure in what turned out to be a messy corporate takeover in 2000. But his Icarus-like career shone brightly and inspired other young winemakers to follow his lead. Newly graduated in oenology, he was appointed head of production at Lindeman’s Corowa in 1969 and was then transferred to Lindeman’s Karadoc winery near Mildura, in Victoria, at age 23, where he was appointed general manager. After a stint at Lindeman’s head office in Sydney, where he was responsible for winery development and production for all the company’s sites, he joined Rosemount Winery, based in the Upper Hunter Valley, as head winemaker in 1982. He oversaw an extraordinary expansion in winemaking, with increasing attention to other sources of fruit, especially Mudgee, where the Oatley family owned vineyards, and at Orange in the high country of central New South Wales. During his time at Rosemount, Shaw was responsible for taking the company from 20,000 cases in 1982 to 6 million cases in 2000, highlighting the dramatic success of the business, but a reverse takeover of Southcorp spelled new challenges that would lead to a corporate bloodbath and Shaw’s exit from the business.
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