Gemtree Vineyards:

 In 1980 Paul and Jill Buttery took a punt and put all their hard earned money, with some help from the bank, into buying a vineyard on Tatachilla Road, in the heart of the McLaren Vale Wine Region.

A few years later when the wine industry was struggling they bought another vineyard with land on the eastern side of the region in the foothills near McLaren Flat and called it Gemtree. They set about gradually planting the rest of the land.

In 1994 their daughter Melissa was doing some extra work in the vineyard having already completed an Associate Diploma in Business from the University of SA when she decided she enjoyed grape wrangling so much she would make a career out of it.

She studied to qualify as a viticulturist and now manages the Gemtree Vineyards as well as other vineyards for customers of the Terraces Vineyard Management, an offshoot of Gemtree.

In 1997 Melissa's brother Andrew returned from Melbourne to manage The Terraces and in 1998 the grapegrowing Buttery family agreed to launch the Gemtree wine label.

Enter Mike Brown stage left, a winemaker and boyfriend (now husband) of Melissa. Having worked for a couple of years at d'Arenberg, Mike was asked by the Buttery's to make their wine.In 1999 Gemtree was also joined part time by Helen, wife of Andrew with a background in marketing, to round off the team.

Today Gemtree owns 330 acres of prime vineyard with varieties such as Shiraz, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Albarino and Verdelho.

Since 1998 Gemtree has been developing the 10 ha Gemtree Wetlands. Having created 6 dams and planted 20,000 native trees, they are now working in partnership with Greening Australia creating an area of biodiversity which is a major haven for native plants, frogs, birds and other animals, as well as being a great teaching resource for the community. Their ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability has led to the entire Gemtree estate being farmed biodynamically since 2007. These practices have continued through into the winery and we are now seeing the first 100% biodynamic Gemtree wines being released onto the market

Wirra Wirra

"Wirra Wirra" is an aboriginal name meaning "amongst the gum trees".

Wirra Wirra Vineyards was originally established in 1894 by known South Australian eccentric and cricketer Robert Strangways Wigley. The winery prospered in its early days, producing many wines including a much acclaimed Shiraz, which was exported to England and the Empire until his death in 1925. The winery ran into disrepair and was eventually abandoned. In 1969 under the watchful eye of the late Greg Trott and his first-cousin Roger, the winery was rebuilt from the remnants of two walls and some slate fermenting tanks. As with all subsequent Trott endeavours, it was the sheer magnitude and unlikeliness of the project that made it so attractive. 

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