Marius' winemakers are always striving to improve the quality of the fruit from their exquisite single vineyard and the grapes are now sequentially hand-picked from the various sections, over a period of 3-4 weeks, to ensure that the fruit is as close as possible to perfect at the time of harvest.

Marius Wines are now made at winemaker Mark Day's boutique winery at Blewitt Springs. Small open fermenters, traditional basket pressing and extended barrel fermentation are the tools of his craft. Mark is an integral part of our success.

The Marius vineyard, which looks out across the McLaren Vale / Willunga basin and out to the Gulf of St. Vincent is blessed with a mild temperate climate and complex ironstone soils. The precious grapegrowing parcel is situated on rising ground to the south-east of McLaren Vale township, ideally positioned to take advantage of both the maritime climatic influence and the cooling gully breezes on summer evenings. The vineyard is small, being only four acres of Shiraz.

The soils range from clay through ironstone and limestone to alluvial gravels. The philosophy at Marius is to grow flavour and produce powerful wines. This is achieved by passionate and fastidious vineyard practices combining to produce low yields of small bunches of flavoursome small berries with a high skin to juice ratio.

All fruit is hand picked and this is done sequentially over approximately three weeks to ensure that all the grapes are as near as possible to perfect when picked. Mid-rows are not cultivated or tilled, the natural grasses and weeds are slashed, no pesticides are used and the industrious worm population is growing rapidly.

In 1997 Ian and Wal Henning, founder of Taltarni and Warrenmang, engaged the assistance of the Stanford Group to develop GlenKara Estate, a 300 hectare vineyard in the Pyrenees region, which provides Massoni with the majority of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. In 1998 the mid price Homes range was introduced. Currently, the majority of production is sold to restaurants or exported. Massoni strive for low cropping levels which not only means that the vine is able to sustain a level of crop from year to year but also able to provide better fruit characteristics as the nutrients it produces are infused into fewer grapes, producing grapes with a greater concentration of fruit flavours.

A vineyard’s soil profile and the region’s climate is a major factor that determines the quality of the grapes which will be harvested. Massoni’s vineyards are considered to be cool climate vineyards. This means that grapes mature on the vine for a longer period enhancing both the fruit flavour and the colour extracted.

Planting the appropriate varieties on a vineyard site is vital. In order to optimise fruit characteristics you need to select the correct clones of a variety. Different vine clones will effect growth rates, crop yields and the ability of a vine to withstand climatic variations such as droughts. All of which will influence a wine’s composition.

A healthy vine will produce quality grapes. Poorly managed vines or over cropped vines will not only produce inferior fruit but will cause vine stress. This generally results in the vine shutting down in an attempt to recuperate. Stressed vines are known to produce well below average crop yields for the following two vintages.

Traditionally harvesting commences in early April through to late May. All vineyards are inspected prior to harvest and only Massoni quality grapes are processed. The vineyards are harvested in batches and each is crushed independently. This enables the winemakers to adjudicate whether the wine produced will be able to make a Massoni wine. It also allows rewards those that produce each vintage’s outstanding fruit. Wines that are not selected for a Massoni product are then sold off. The Massoni wines are then placed in 220 litre oak barriques where they will be matured for up to 20 months. Balancing oak and wine characteristic is an artisan skill which is nurtured over successive vintages. Although as a general rule 1/3 of Massoni wines are placed in new barriques, 1/3 in 1 year old barriques, and 1/3 in 2 year or older barriques. The winemaker will match each batch of wine to whether it requires a high, medium or low toasted oak barrique. The toasting of a barrique influences the extent of the oak sensation within a wine. Barriques are shaved each year by a qualified cooper and generally have a lifespan of up to 5 years. At a price of between $800 to $1,500, oak barriques are the highest perishable cost of any winery.

The Karridale Vineyard, 45km south of Margaret River township, is very close to Flinders Bay. Its climate is distinctly cooler than in the north of the region. Scientific data has found that Karridale is the coolest grape growing region in Western Australia. Influenced by both Southern and Indian Oceans, the 50 hectare (120 acres) vineyard was planted between 1995 and 1998 on a former dairy farm of 80 hectares (200 acres). Varieties planted are Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec.

Vineyard practices, trellising methods and control of yields, are determined by only one criterion ‚ optimum quality. Pests (slugs, snails, beetles etc) are controlled without the use of chemicals, by chooks (chickens) and ducks. The absolute minimum of fertilizers and chemicals are utilised.

The surrounding Marri trees (WA Red gum) conveniently flower as vintage approaches. The silvereye birds which can cause so much damage to ripening grapes are attracted to the Marri blossom. If the Marri blossom is poor, the silvereyes will attack the grapes. So we put nets over whole rows of ripening grapes. The fruit is harvested when taste and laboratory analysis indicates optimum ripeness. Whites are harvested at night, so as to reach the winery cool, and need less refrigeration prior to cold fermentation. Reds can come off during the day, as they are fermented at room temperature. The quality of fruit has exceeded the best expectations.

The Margaret River wine region occupies the south western corner of Western Australia; about three hours drive south of Perth. It enjoys a Western Maritime, or Mediterranean climate. Summers are warm and dry, winters cool and wet. The climate has often been compared to that of Bordeaux.

The Indian Ocean lies to the west, the Southern Ocean to the south. The oceans meet at Cape Leeuwin, near the small township of Augusta. Here the Blackwood River, the largest in the South West, ends its journey, flowing into Flinders Bay. Humpback and Southern Right whales abound in the waters around the South West. They take refuge in Flinders Bay during their annual migration.

In 1952 production of the wine was moved to Stonyfell. Brian Dolan, winemaker at the time, conceived the idea of Metala becoming an estate wine and in 1959 sketched out the Metala label. Brian won the inaugural Jimmy Watson Trophy in 1962 with the 1961 Metala Shiraz Cabernet. Bryan’s son Nigel Dolan is now the Head Red Winemaker for Beringer Blass and continues the tradition of producing this iconic label. Aside from the big companies, Metala also provides fruit for a number if smaller boutique labels other than Brothers in Arms, such as Oddfellows and Killibinbin.

Brother Tom Adam’s decision to focus on a global market paid off but he has travel to the USA twice a year for up to 4 weeks at a time to meet key American industry people and to sell the brand name ‘Brothers in Arms’. He also works in the European market as well as around Australia. The brands success is because Tom is committed to marketing as the USA Grateful Palate owner says ‘he is a real salt of the earth kind of guy’ who gets results.

"Metala has been our family's property since the 1850s and it's also the name of the premium Beringer Blass label made entirely of our fruit. Our original plan, back in the early 1990s, was quite simple - grow the grapes, get a local processor to make the wine, then bottle it and sell it. We decided to select a single varietal as a flagship wine and focus wholeheartedly on it. Shiraz was the obvious choice as our Shiraz has always been fantastic.

"We started mucking around with small parcels of fruit with our father. At that time it was really just a hobby for us and it gave us something of our own to drink. In 1998 we took a small amount of fruit and turned it into 500 cases of Shiraz at Lake Breeze winery in Langhorne Creek. It was so bloody good that we didn't know what to do with it! We couldn't drink it all, so we started to think seriously about the future.

"Right around this time a pesky American came and knocked on my door. As it turned out it was Dan Phillips, a leading distributor from California, who was making regular trips to Australia looking for high-end lots of premium Shiraz - he felt there was going to be a market for it in the States.