Family wine brand more than six-foot tall

IN 1982, Pamela and Richard Austin developed a three-acre vineyard in Waurn Ponds.

This first passion project led them to buy one hundred and fifty acres in the Moorabool Valley, planting a new vineyard and launching Austin’s Wines.

Winemaking was a hobby, rather than a livelihood, but plenty was being produced. That’s when Scott Austin, their son, got the call to come and help sell it.

Taking over the business in 2004, Scott and his wife, Belinda Austin are second-generation winemakers, keeping the love of grape growing in the family.

“We can’t keep up with peoples’ sipping habits,” Mrs Austin laughed.

“We have two brands, Austin’s and 6Ft6. 6Ft6 is our everyday wine brand, sold throughout Australia in most good bottle shops. Our pinot noir is our flagship wine, and we’ve got great support in Geelong, Melbourne and the east coast of Australia.”

The best parcels of fruit from the Sutherlands Creek estate each year go towards Austin’s, the “premium offering,” and are matured in French oak.

With seven varieties of 6Ft6, some prosecco, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc fruit is sourced from the King and Yarra valleys to respond to demand.

“Our pinot noir, shiraz and rosé are all from our vineyard, and that’s something we’re really proud of. In our Austin’s range, everything is from our vineyard, it’s all from this estate,” Mrs Austin said.

“We’ve got a cuvée, a Riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz, and a late-harvest Riesling, and they’re all delicious wines.”

With all their action within the sub-region of Geelong wine, the Austin family love where they live and work.

“It’s actually got some of the best wines in Australia but it’s completely undiscovered. It’s like this little hidden secret and when real wine lovers discover it, they become loyal fans.

“Whether it’s us, Bannockburn, Lethbridge, Clyde Park… It’s a region of wineries that’s such high calibre, and you’ll find they’re all still small-batch and really passionate about the wines in the region, so we’re really fortunate,” Mrs Austin said.

“On top of that, you’ve got amazing food producers, so we’re lucky. It’s still rustic, the owners are behind the counters, so that makes it pretty special, too.”

During the COVID-19 period, the Austins increased their online offering as website demand grew.

“We have a loyal following that knew that buying wine from us directly would help us. We’ve really discovered the importance of every customer,” Mrs Austin said.

“Thankfully, we’ve survived and because our business adapted, it’s been able to thrive.”

Looking out of the pandemic and into Autumn 2021, they’re building a cellar door, encouraging the local community to purchase a limited-edition wine, to help fund the remaining section’s construction and become founding members.

“It’s a way to bring people into the place where we live, get them to kick the dirt, see the views that we get, and experience firsthand what it’s like to make wine and grow grapes,” Mr Austin said.

“We’re very much custodians, and one of very few second-generation businesses in the Victorian wine industry, so we feel very privileged to have the baton passed to us by our founders who had a great vision.

“We view this as a multigenerational business and look to those fourth and fifth generation businesses as something we aspire to be like, and hope one day, one of three of our children might consider doing the same thing.”

Visit austinswines.com.au.