The SOMM Journal

February / March 2018

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46 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 { family winemakers } RIGHT AROUND THE birth of Australian wine in the latter half of the 19th century, ten out of ten Aussie doctors would have likely agreed that wine was good for your health. Full disclosure, though, that back then some of these doctors might have actually doubled as winemakers. Penfolds, Lindemans, and Hardys? All established by physicians. Included in this group of wine-loving MDs was Dr. William Thomas Angove, who emigrated to South Australia from England and founded Angove Family Winemakers in 1886. Angove originally made wine as a tonic for his patients, but considering the layered and vibrant McLaren Vale Angove Shiraz of today, one has to wonder if the doctor had bigger, more flavorsome plans. Regardless, his penchant for producing dry and fortified wine transformed his side project into a full-time practice, laying the foundation for a family tradition that would instill this same work ethic in his descen - dants. This first manifested in William's son Thomas "Skipper" Carlyon Angove, who diversified and exported the Angove port - folio in addition to establishing the very first winery in the Riverland in 1910. Skip- per was especially passionate about the distilled grape spirit he produced, St Agnes Brandy, which remains one of Australia's most beloved spirits today. Skipper's son, Thomas William Carlyon Angove, became an authority figure in Australian wine in his own right. He earned a degree in enology and also oversaw the expansion of his family's crush facilities in the mid-1900s and the planting of the Nanya Vineyard in the Riverland (one of the largest single vineyards in the Southern Hemisphere), among other accolades. He's also often credited for virtually inventing the boxed wine concept. The Angove Family Enters the Modern Era If the first three generations of Angoves expanded the family business, it was the fourth generation that gave it focus— thanks largely in part to John Carlyon Ang- ove. "My father was extremely instrumen- tal in modernizing what we did through the '80s and '90s," says Richard Angove, Joint Managing Director of Angove Family Winemakers. "He invested heavily in vine- yards, particularly in McLaren Vale, and also in small-scale winemaking." Richard describes Angove Family Winemakers as having "two sides," with one largely commercial in practice and the other reflecting John Carlyon's legacy of small-batch production. "The latter can handle right down to 250-kilogram batches," he explains. "It's all hand-picked and hand-sorted in a state-of-the-art small-scaled winery. On the other side, we can make great commercial wines." Today, Richard and his sister Victoria represent the fifth generation of family winemakers as a duo—a first for the busi - ness, as previous generations only had one A Complex Tonic THE GENERATIONAL AND ENOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF ANGOVE FAMILY WINEMAKERS Dr. William Thomas Angove on a ride through Tea Tree Gully in South Australia. John Carlyon Angove in the cellars of the Angove family's winery in 1980. The Blanch Point Formation soil (the base of which is Tortachilla Limestone) of Warboys Vineyard formed below sea level 34–56 million years ago. by Jessie Birschbach

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