Our Story
The Very Beginning...
The story of Leabrook Estate started in 1978 when at dinner parties we tried Burgundian wines. The first was a 1953 Faiveley Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-George followed by two white burgundies from Puligney-Montrachet, Les Referts and Les Combettes. My diary notes on these extaordinary wines were:
"excellent colour for a 25 year old wine, very bright garnet with only braces of brown on the miniscus. The wine opened beautifully in the glass to a classic 'cigar box' nose. Superb lingering smooth fruit, balanced in all aspects and finished clean and firm, would last for another 25 years"
"Both white burgundies combined very well with the seafood. Both had an intense "gunpowder" fruit that was a little stronger in the Les Combettes. The wines had great character and delicacy with a lingering aftertaste, and firm finish."
This was the beginning of my love affair with Burgundy and things Burgundian. These wines had an extra dimension of elegance and intensity.
I continued to study the wines and their origin until in 1989 my wife and I spent a week in Burgundy. This caused serious problems because I then became addicted to the lifestyle as well as the wines. A winemaker in Nuits Saint Georges entertained us for two and a half hours and then refused to let us pay for our purchases. A $20-00 glass of Le Montrachet from a caveau transported me to another plane, a viticulturist at the Montrachet vineyard spoke with such love and reverence about the few vines that he was tending.
On my return to Australia I decided that the amateur winemaking I had done for 20 years was not enough and I was on a path to creating a Burgundian lifestyle in South Australia. Still pursing my engineering profession, I started by leasing a small quarter hectare patch of rocky clay soil in the Adelaide Hills where I planted clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; a hobby block that for several years taught me the trials and pitfalls of mildew, weeds and winemaking techniques. I had considered that the French had close planted for a reason, based on 200 years experience, so why follow the Australian design of vineyards based on the width of a Massey Ferguson tractor?
The resulting wines immediately started to show promise and before long I was planning my "retirement" from engineering.
Establishing the Vineyards
One very cold day while visiting an engineering site at Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills I called into an estate agent who had the perfect block on her books. Relatively small at two hectares, with good soil and a good aspect it also was affordable. Then came the last part of the jigsaw that sealed my fate in becoming a full time winemaker and grapegrower. I approached winemakers already established in the relatively young Adelaide Hills wine region and was overwhelmed with their generosity and assistance. I soon had all the cuttings I needed of a multitude of clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and my planting configuration was only varied to enable a ride on mower to tend the rows, towing purpose designed spray equipment. Other engineering masterpieces such as a huge fan were soon installed to control frosts.
The attitude and friendliness of the Adelaide Hills vignerons contrasted so greatly with the elements of the contract engineering scene such that soon I was planning the final phase, establishment of my winery, and becoming a full time vigneron. A historic former woollen mill in Lobethal was ideally suited for winemaking, with thick walls and connections to effluent disposal and within a kilometre of my vineyard and this became Leabrook Estate Winery.
The Birth of Leabrook Estate
At the closing of the millennium I closed the door on engineering, except for consulting to pay for the winery! Chris began to devote her time on the management side of Leabrook Estate handling marketing and sales.
Leabrook Estate took its name from our family home in the suburbs of Adelaide where for a number of years my amateur winemaking skills were improved using the fruit from my first hobby block. I employed the best wine maker available to come and critique my wines and with his assistance and my study of the available literature on Burgundian winemaking, the results have been very satisfying.