A tale of Tahbilk
Alister Purbrick, fourth-generation winemaker and CEO of the Tahbilk Group, retired in June after 43 years of running the family business. James Halliday reflects on the contribution Alister made to Tahbilk, and on the history of the Nagambie Lakes winery.
THE START of the Tahbilk/Purbrick story borders on utter implausibility. Why on earth would the son of a wealthy member of the English parliament, who had graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge in 1925, then called to the Bar of the Inner Temple in 1929, turn his back on all that, and in the middle of the Great Depression, leave England and travel to Victoria to manage a winery that neither father Reginald nor son Eric had ever seen? It’s half suggested in the early 1920s Reginald Purbrick was handed a glass of Chateau Tahbilk brandy with the words ‘This might interest you, Purbrick,’ and that it might have caused him to buy Tahbilk sight unseen in 1925.
The events of its birth had been even more hair-raising. A prospectus seeking to raise £30,000 to purchase and develop a 640-acre property in the Goulburn Valley was circulated in early 1860, but was terminated when the architect of the scheme disappeared. In May 1860, a contemporary report explained: “...the unfortunate gentleman’s body, disfigured by insects, reptiles, and the native cat, and dissolving in the sun, was discovered near St Kilda...”
Speedy action saw the formation of the Tahbilk Vineyard Proprietary completed by 1 August 1860, and £25,000 raised for the purchase of the property, the construction of a cellar and the planting of the first shiraz vines, whose remainders stand today.
Speed also marked the advertisements for the supply of “one million vine cuttings from all the Australian Colonies; 700,000 took root, and produced grapes the first year” – a highly dubious report, but no matter. The ‘old’ cellars that visitors can walk through today were constructed by the end of the 1860s. Over 90 metres long, they were built of handmade bricks and mud stone quarried from the property, with beams hewn from the massive river gum trees that grow in the district.
Wine production surged, and the ‘new’ cellar had to be urgently constructed to handle the forthcoming 1876 vintage; James Purbrick (a third cousin of Reginald) won the tender, and completed the cellar in only six weeks. Phylloxera waited around the corner, and saw production decline, but even by 1890, 50 hogsheads a month were being exported to London. The reasons for the resilience were the number of blocks planted on sandy soils, and the progressive replanting of grafted vines.
AND SO to 1975 or thereabouts, when I made my first visit to Tahbilk under the wing of Len Evans, and stayed at the Purbrick family house designed by Sir Roy Grounds. It was the first of many visits up to the death of Eric in 1991, and thereafter under the aegis of Alister and Rosa Purbrick. So be aware that I am an unashamedly biased witness to one of Australia’s most beautiful wineries.
A brief minute or two in the buildings surrounding the winery, or anywhere else for that matter, will tell you this is a very special place. It’s the timeless sound of bird calls punctuating silence, ancient farming equipment parked in open sheds 50 years ago, the iconic lookout tower, the billabongs and the towering sentinels of the river gums. It’s the stage for the active care of the environment that has marked the past 20 years. Since 2013 there has been a 45 per cent reduction in emissions across the organisation, helped by 160 hectares of native revegetation and purchase of offsite carbon credits.
Two of the Tahbilk wine treasures are the 1860 shiraz and 1927 marsanne plantings. The shiraz is unique for two reasons. First, it is
planted on a barely perceptible rise of sandy soil, and is surrounded by much, much younger vines that are all grafted onto rootstock that makes them immune to the attack of phylloxera, endemic through the rest of the Tahbilk (and regional) plantings. It is the sandy soil that provides the defence. Second, and more importantly, there has been no replanting of the shiraz vines that have died. All other Australian plantings of similar age that I know of are a mix of old and younger vines. It has been a temptation to replant, especially in wake of a freak frost that destroyed over 200 of the then 800 vines (originally 1100) on 25 September 2006. The wine itself is matured in a mix of new and used French oak to focus on the inherent power of the wine. In a good year, production is 250 dozen bottles.
The other treasure is the 26 hectares of marsanne, which is the largest single planting in the world, part (6.7 hectares) dating back to 1927. This is bottled separately to that from younger vines, but both with a use-by date 30 years hence. It transforms itself with bottle maturation in a similar fashion to Hunter Valley semillon, starting to show substantial change from five to seven years after bottling. It is a prolific wine show award winner, with 55 trophies, 187 gold medals, 251 silver and 472 bronze.
IN 1980, Tahbilk’s annual sales were around 35,000 dozen plus 90,000 litres bulk, the vineyards circa 55 hectares plus 16 hectares newly planted. Today turnover is $80.1 million, sales are 120,000 dozen (no bulk), and vineyards 221 hectares. This achievement is due to one person: Eric’s grandson Alister Purbrick.
At the same time as dramatically enhancing Tahbilk’s status as one of the most successful medium-sized wineries, Alister has devoted endless time to the cause of the wine industry as a whole since
1984. He has been a president, vice president or board member of the peak industry body – the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia/ Australian Grape & Wine Inc – since 1990 through to the present. He has been chair of seven separate bodies and a member of another four bodies, all dealing with significant wine industry issues. He has also been a key member of various regional bodies. Many of the positions he has held involve fixed periods, with re-election (or not) following those periods. The pattern of repeated re-elections/appointments is testimony to the fact that Alister is a born leader, and doesn’t ‘collect’ board or committee memberships. His direct gaze, ready laughter and inherent modesty are welded together by his formidable intelligence and ability to always be one jump ahead of his peers.
I am an unashamedly biased witness to one of Australia’s most beautiful wineries. A brief minute or two in the buildings surrounding the winery, or anywhere for that matter, will tell you this is a very special place.