Forty years ago my folks dragged us to the farming community of McLaren Vale. This was the halfway point between Adelaide and my father’s former job as a bank manager, and Goolwa Beach, and his new occupation as a longline fisherman catching mulloway and shark. Longline fishing shaped my early life but it was growing up in the beautiful horticulturally rich area of McLaren Vale that had the greatest impact.

20 years ago post a science degree I fell into a vintage cellar role for Geoff Merrill Wines, a local McLaren Vale producer. This job flicked a switch for me and was the start of my love of wine and the making of it. In the years to follow I have worked at a number of highly respected wineries including Wirra Wirra, and Hardy’s Tintara, in McLaren Vale and abroad in Beaujolais, Chateauneuf du Pape and Oregon in the US.

Martine and I started Longline Wines in 2012 with a small parcel of old vine dry grown Grenache and a McLaren Vale/Adelaide Hills multi-regional Shiraz. Our range has grown to today include a Grenache Rose and single vineyard Shiraz release.

Our aim is to produce distinctive wines that represent the best of McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills. Our fruit is sourced from vineyard sites selected from two decades of walking vineyards in these two great regions. Our vineyard parcels come from growers who understand their sites and what it takes to grow outstanding fruit. The wines are made entirely by us, every plunge of our ferments and every barrel filled and emptied. Our ambition is to produce small parcels of wines of great interest and complexity that exhibit the true qualities of the vineyard

I hope you enjoy our wines.

Cheers,

Paul & Martine