Winemaking & Vineyards
The first Angove family vineyards were established by Dr William Angove in the early 1900s in the northern Adelaide suburbs of St Agnes, Modbury and Tee Tree Gully. For many years this region was home to some of South Australia’s best and most highly regarded vineyards and wineries.
Dr Angove was passionate about site selection and selected varieties that best suited the site and climate. Dr Angove’s original plantings included Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Rhine Riesling and Madeira. Whilst initial winemaking was undertaken at Brightlands Cellars, Dr Angove soon built his own cellars at the St Agnes Vineyard. These original cellars remained operational until 1982 when the final surrounding original vineyards were consumed by urban sprawl. It was the 90th vintage and only 15 tonnes of Riesling were processed.
Established in 1910 by Dr Angove’s son Thomas “Skipper” Carlyon Angove, the Renmark winery is today capable of processing in excess of 19,000 tonnes of grapes each vintage. The winery combines the old and the new, with the latest high-tech stainless steel presses, fermentation and storage vessels comfortably coexisting with old, cool cellars where wooden barrels quietly mature wines before release.
Critical to the success of Angove in both overseas and domestic markets is the accreditation to the prestigious British Retail Consortium Standard. Regarded worldwide as a benchmark in the quality standards, this accreditation affirms the company’s position as a producer of wines of the highest standard. Angove was the first Australian winery to achieve this accreditation to Higher Level Status for the entire operation at Renmark.
Final bottling, labelling and packaging occur in one of the most up to date bottling facilities in Australia, located on the Angove Estate. From here Angove wines are despatched to our eagerly waiting customers around the world.
Why the loss of the original, prized vineyards? Sadly, as Adelaide grew, the State Government began to compulsorily acquire vineyards for housing. The urban sprawl reached St Agnes and Tee Tree Gully and the Angove vineyards were acquired in the late 1970s. T W C Angove, fought hard to hold on to his precious vines without success however in looking forwards, began to source grapes from new areas and planting began at the Nanya Vineyard in 1968. Nanya was soon to become a critical grape supply for the family business and by the mid 1980’s, 480 hectares were under vine. This vineyard is in the midst of a major multi-million dollar re-development utilising the most modern planting, trellising, irrigation and pruning techniques to ensure the fruit grown is of the highest quality. With a long term view the company is committed to the re-structure in a sustainable manner to ensure ongoing quality improvements.
Angove Family Winemakers have quietly led the way in promoting minimal chemical intervention in the vineyard, both our own and in those of our growers, and in the winery. Conversion to Organic viticulture is now well advanced with 36 hectares of the Nanya vineyard certified organic with a further 30 hectares in conversion. The entire Angove winery site is now fully certified to produce organic wines.
Vineyards
With a strong South Australian approach to winemaking, we have sourced fruit from all of South Australia’s premium grape growing regions for a number of years including McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills and the Limestone Coast sub regions of Mt Benson, Wrattonbully and Padthaway.