PAUL I went to kindergarten in Tanunda and
then my folks moved out of the Barossa for
afew years before returning. I guess going
through high school in the mid-1980s when
the government was paying to pull vines out
meant Ididn’t want to get a job in a vineyard
or winery, and that’s why I moved away from
the Barossa after I finished school.
I got an apprenticeship as a mechanic with
Telstra — Telecom at the time — and I worked
acouple of years across the Nullarbor with the
optic fibre project, which was interesting.
Eventually I moved back to the Barossa and
in1992 I started an apprenticeship at Orlando
Wines. I progressed through a couple of TAFE
courses, then worked for a bottling company
for a year. The passion slowly grew, and I began
making wine in my back shed.
I ended up taking a bottle of ‘Shed Red’, as
Icalled it, up to Margaret and Peter Lehmann’s
[the legendary late winemaker, who was pivotal
in shaping the Barossa’s wine industry into
a global player] for dinner one night. Peter
said: “If you can make wine like this every year
you’ll be doing well.” So that was encouraging!
In 1996 at Langmeil I pursued the hands-on
aspect of winemaking. Istarted a winemaking
degree by correspondence, but the residential
school was in the middle of vintage so I ended
up not completing it. I was good at chemistry,
though, and talking to other winemakers helped
put it all into place. From 1999 on I was looking
after all the Langmeil wine.
The Freedom Shiraz is one of the easier
wines to make, but you’re in trouble if you
stuff it up. The pressure’s there; it’s expected
to be a mid- to high-nineties score wine.
I’ve got an old house in Langmeil Road
whereIlive with my wife Natalie and our girls,
Mackenzie, who is nine, and Bridget, seven.
Ourfamily business works well. James and
Ihave always gotten along okay — or more
than okay: we stopped fighting each other
years ago! We played football together and,
athough we were pretty competitive, we usually
played on the same team so it wasn’t too bad.
Like every family wehave our moments, but
it’s usually pretty smooth.
People like Robert O’Callaghan, Bob McLean
and Peter Lehmann really brought the Barossa
back and the importance of the old vineyards
forward. Settlers planted a lot of the old
vineyards and they really have something extra
about them. The old vines need a lot of work,
but they are worthwhile in the end.
NOVEMBER 2017 COU NTRY ST Y LE 125