Majella

The Lynn family have a long history in Penola in the Coonawarra region of South Australia. They began as blacksmiths, then wheelwrights, then storekeepers, and finally graziers. Fourth generation George and Pat Lynn acquired a property in 1960, which was used for the production of prime lamb and the farm was called Majella. But there was a great terra rossa soil bank on the front of the property and the decision was made to convert this into a vineyard. In 1968 therefore their sons Brian and Anthony started to plant it with vines; this eventfully grew to 60 hectares. Today the remainder of the land is still used for grazing sheep for prime lamb production and wool. The Lynn's first vintage was in 1972, but they sold their grapes to other producers in Coonawarra, namely Wynn's. They were purely grape growers until 1991, when they decided to produce a Shiraz themselves, which was achieved at Eric Brand's winery by Bruce Gregory. Increasingly more and more of their grapes were made into wine, and in the end the Lynn's decided to build their own cellar on their Majella farm. This was completed in late 1998, and Bruce joined them at the beginning of the following year. He has made every bottle of Majella wine ever released, and from 2002 all the grapes from the Majella vineyard have been vinified on site and bottled under the Majella label. Brian and Anthony continue to run the family business, the future of which is now assured with four members of the next generation joining the team: Peter marketing, Nerys administration, Steven working in the vineyards and Gerard on the farm. The 60 hectare sustainably managed vineyards are planted on the eastern edge of Coonawarra's world-famous cigar shaped “red strip” of terra rossa soils, with 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Shiraz, and the remainder to Merlot and Riesling. Majella's flagship wine is The Malleea, a predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with Shiraz masterpiece, recognised in Langton's Classification of Australia's Best Wines, and their Shiraz is considered one of the county's finest wines from this grape variety. They are one of the most awarded small wineries in Australia. James Halliday has called them the best winery in Coonawarra and they are regarded as one of the country's finest red wine producers. These are vibrant and luscious Red Wines from the Red Strip!