From our
very first vintage in 1979, our aim has
been to create and evolve our own styles
of wine. We have explored new ideas and
been inspired by some very old traditions
along the way.
It all
started with a young Italian immigrant who
came to Australia in 1953 with a dream to
plant a vineyard.
Primo
Grilli planted his vineyard in 1973. He
chose an area 30 kilometres north of
Adelaide in the rich fertile market
gardening land of Virginia. Also, being
only 3 kilometres from the coast, Virginia
enjoys the benefits of the cool sea
breezes that sweep over the plains in the
evenings.
Primo
built his vineyard with passion and
understood completely the life of a
vine.
His eldest
son Joseph grew up with the vines tending
them with the rest of the family. Joseph
was to be a winemaker. It was not a
conscious choice, not an expectation, just
a progression, what he had to be. The
grapes were grown to be turned into
wine.
In 1979
Joseph completed his oenology course at
Roseworthy Agricultural College and this
coincided with the first vintage of
Primo Estate. At this time the
Australian wine industry was experiencing
a renaissance and was leading the world
with the new technology of winemaking.
Joseph embraced these ideas. His dreams
and passion, however, were the great wine
styles of the world. He was consumed with
his role as winemaker and from the outset
used innovative techniques such as 'double
pruning' to make his wine.
In 1981
Joseph made a wine that is the epitome of
Primo Estate. He was enchanted with
traditional German sweet whites and longed
to make a similar style. A modern method
was used to craft a luscious botrytis
Riesling. The 1981 Primo Estate
Beerenauslese was one of the first of its
kind in Australia.
The
success of this wine gave Joseph the
confidence to experiment with other
methods and non-traditional grape
varieties. The Primo Estate 'la
biondina' is another success story.
Harvesting of the Colombard grape is
always eagerly awaited. The fermenting
grapes produce heady smells in the winery,
turning into a wine that is released young
and fresh that almost jumps out of the
glass.
In 1987
Joseph with his wife Dina travelled the
wine regions of France and Italy. They
were taken with the magic of these
countries and saw and tasted much of their
beauty. They returned after many
adventures full of enthusiasm to continue
to create their own brand of
magic.
A new wine
was introduced into their range. This time
using a traditional Italian method to
create a wine with modern breeding. The
1987 'Moda' Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
heralded a new label JOSEPH and a new
beginning. This time it was Dina's dreams
of beauty, elegance and classicism that
were at the fore. Dina brought to the
winery a peacefulness and a new sense of
style.
Spurred on
by all they had learnt from their travels,
in 1989 an extra virgin olive oil was
produced and bottled under the JOSEPH
label. This opened up a new direction and
introduced them to many more wonderful
people.
By 1999
much had been achieved. It was now time
for Joseph and Dina to embrace their
passion for Italian varieties. Vineyards
were planted on the slopes of Angel Gully
in Clarendon and in McLaren Vale. The
first wine to emerge was the Primo
Estate 'il briccone' Shiraz
Sangiovese, celebrating their Australian
and Italian cultures.
Others
will follow.
Their
journey continues.
An
interview with Joe and Dina Grilli by
JoyWalterfang
From his
very first vintage, at age 20, Primo
Estate's Joe Grilli wanted to create
revolutionary wines. "We didn't just want
to make a slightly better cabernet or
riesling than someone else", said Joe. "We
were going all out to dazzle people. Right
from the beginning I wanted to put into
practice the more radical theories of
viticultural and winemaking that I picked
up along the way at Roseworthy. I really
believed this was the role of small
wineries; to explore the unconventional -I
still do". And for the past 21 years Joe
has been doing exactly that; creating some
wonderfully dazzling and unconventional
wines under the Joseph and Primo Estate
labels.
"We made
the first commercial double pruned
cabernet in Australia", recalled Joe. "It
was an incredibly labour intensive
exercise for a very small yield. We pruned
the vines twice, cutting off the first
crop so the second one didn't ripen until
May. We were after wine that had a lot
more finesse and quality than the regular
cabernet that ripened around the first
week of March. We ended up producing five
vintages of this wine but had to stop in
the end because the vines were starting to
get too hacked up.
"We were
also one of the first wineries to produce
Cordon cut riesling. We made a lovely late
pick riesling. We abandoned that to go
into the botrytis infected riesling. We
helped nature along by growing the mould
and then misting it onto the fruit. We
left it out in the wind and the shade for
a month just to let it do its stuff. It
was the 1981 Beerenauslese that really put
us on the map as a winery. We have now
converted that wine to the Joseph label
and called it La Magia (the magic)
botrytis riesling".
Address:
PO Box 770, McLaren Vale South Australia
5171
Telephone: 08 8323 6800 Facsimile: 08 8323
6888
www.primoestate.com.au
