Nurturing The Family Vine

The Age

Wednesday November 26, 2008

Paul Edwards

I GREW up in Griffith, NSW, and the winery and vineyard were my playground. My three brothers and I would climb the olive trees, stuff our faces full of figs from the enormous tree in our backyard and go yabbying along the channel banks.

I have pretty much spent my whole life involved with our family business which my grandfather, Vittorio De Bortoli, started in Griffith in 1928. My father Deen took over the winery in the 1950s and my brothers and I continue to run the company.

I worked on the bottling line or in cellar door sales during the school holidays. I went to Roseworthy College in South Australia to study wine marketing where I met Stephen Webber, a recent winemaking graduate.

We were married in 1989 and moved to the Yarra Valley to manage my family's vineyard and winery there. We were one of the first in the area to set up a restaurant specialising in Italian cuisine.

Nearly 20 years on, we have refurbished both the restaurant and cellar door as well as setting up a dedicated cheese maturation room, run by cheesemaker Richard Thomas.

I have been fortunate to work with some fascinating and talented people and have had the pleasure of meeting many fabulous winemakers and chefs from around the world. However, for us, the chief pleasure is the nurturing of talent within our own business and seeing our staff develop into their roles. They are the people who constantly challenge us and have been instrumental in making the company a success. It is their energy, passion and dedication that I find so inspiring.

The Yarra Valley is such a beautiful rural environment and working on environmentally focused projects has also been particularly rewarding. In the past few years we have started to take quite a different approach to the way we make wine. Great wines are not made in the winery but in the vineyard. And to grow the best fruit means you need to have a healthy vineyard. We trialled a section of our vineyard under organic practices six years ago and the resultant wines speak for themselves, they truly reflect where they are grown.

We are in the process of converting all our Yarra Valley vineyards to biological farming with the idea that healthy soils produce better vines that produce high-quality fruit. It is a daunting project but very exciting because it will be on such a large scale. I believe we will be the largest vineyard in Australia to go down this path.

We are already making compost teas to spray on the vines and have just taken possession of a large compost turner to convert all of our grape byproducts such as paper, cardboard and prunings into rich compost. Coming from a family company means we can make these long-term decisions because they are the right ones to make, not because we have to satisfy shareholders. Rome wasn't built in a day and it is better to take a long-term view on the way we manage our resources rather than a short-term approach.

One of the most challenging aspects of my role is managing family life, family responsibilities and work. Steve and I have been married for nearly 20 years and have two beautiful daughters - Kate (17) and Sally (16) - and I sometimes feel I am juggling many balls to keep everything going seamlessly.

We live on site and entertain many visitors from interstate and overseas: perhaps wine writers from the UK, buyers from Singapore, agents from Japan or work experience students from Italy. Having a diverse range of visitors through our house exposes our daughters to many amazing cultures and even though language can sometimes be a barrier we still manage to have a good time. The language of food and wine crosses all boundaries.

Steve and I have travelled widely overseas, mainly to other wine-producing regions, which also happen to be in some of the most beautiful parts of the world. Burgundy is a particular favourite of ours, as is Piedmont, home of beautiful Barolo wines, wonderful Italian food and terrific people.

Vintage can often be a stressful time, as can raising children, but all you need to do is put everything into perspective. A glass of delicious rose or a block of chocolate are fairly good stress busters. Gardening in my vegie patch is particularly good when I'm not having a good day - it is very therapeutic work, very fulfilling, and at the end of the day you have something tangible for your efforts.

In the coming years I am really looking forward to enjoying life and the company of our dear friends and family. I want to feel content that I have done my best and left a wonderful legacy to the next generation. -- PAUL EDWARDS

CV

Born: Griffith, NSW, 1961.

Jobs: Entirely within the family business.

Education: Roseworthy Agricultural College.

Good breaks: Growing up within a great industry.

Mentors: My parents.

Unwinding: Good book, a glass of delicious wine, chocolate, gardening.

External: Member, Yarra Ranges Regional Marketing Limited, Yarra Valley Wine Growers Association marketing group.

© 2008 The Age

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