Case Studies
Issue No. 19 - October/November 2004
Grant Burge Wines
Burge-oning force
Affable, drawling Grant Burge controls more than 400ha of Barossa Valley vineyards and sells more than 400,000 cases of bottled wine annually.
That would make his enterprise a plum takeover target but for one thing: "We are not for sale and have no interest in selling."
Grant Burge began his career as a cellarhand at Glenloth winery in McLaren Vale and his first winemaking job was at Southern Vales Winery in the same region. His first business coup was to develop the Barossa winery, Krondorf, in partnership with Ian Wilson. That process established Grant’s winemaking reputation, but he then made the harder jump to become an independent force. He has won every major trophy and medal in Australia, including the Jimmy Watson (Krondorf 1980), Stodart, Brisbane Club and Montgomery trophies.
Grant nails his colours to the mast as "a fifth-generation winemaker absolutely committed to the Barossa Valley". He isn’t a latecomer to the idea that great wine is born in the vineyard; he has built up an extensive network of premium quality vineyards strategically centred on the Barossa. This process was well underway when Grant launched his own label in 1988, in the wake of the notorious Barossa vine pull scheme.
It follows that individual vineyard selections from the Barossa figure prominently in the range. This isn’t easy; Barossa area vineyards have different climates, soils and characters and Grant has worked hard to establish suitable grape varieties in microclimates where they will thrive. His most recent vineyard addition is Corryton Park in the Eden Valley.
Pricing varies from $10 for the Barossa Vines range to $100 for Meshach Shiraz, the company‘s flagship wine.
Handling a product from harvest to market in a large company is a big ask for one entrepreneur and a relatively small support staff, but Grant wouldn’t have it otherwise – and he speaks from rueful experience.
As a director of Krondorf, co...
