Ken, John, Ron, and John's son Derry

The title of this blog is the tagline of John Geber, owner of the Australian winery Chateau Tanunda. I had the great pleasure of meeting John and the rest of the crew of his 100 foot motor yacht the Grand Barossa about a week or so ago. This magnificent yacht was moored in Jacksonville as a part of Chateau Tanunda’s trip up the east coast of the U.S. promoting the wines of this historic Barossa Valley property.

The Barossa Valley's magnificent Chateau Tanunda

Though John Geber’s family was in the winemaking business many generations previously, he himself had not been involved with viticulture at all. John’s background had been in marketing with R. J. Reynolds also with the Tetley Tea Company. John invented Tetley’s now famous round tea bag. John Geber got into the wine industry as a negociant when he started the Australian Food & Beverage Group. He used his immense marketing skills and his ability to blend flavors--his tea background--to sell Australian wines to European countries. His brands Kangarro Ridge, Kangaroo Hills and Naturally Australian helped to make John’s company the number one exporter of Australian wines to Europe. So one day in 1998, as the story goes, he was riding his bike along a Barossa Valley road, saw a grand, old chateau in a state of disrepair and decided at that moment to get into the winemaking business. A bit impulsive wouldn’t you say? By the end of that day he put down a chunk of money on one of the most historic and fabulous buildings in the entire country. Built in 1890, this nearly 38,000 square foot building was, at the time, the largest building in South Australia and the biggest winery in the southern hemisphere. So a couple of years and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the glorious Bavarian-style Chateau Tanunda, was back to its former splendor.

John Geber telling us a little bit about the history of Chateau Tanunda

From this winery he has produced some of the best, though somewhat under the radar, wines to come out of Australia. Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Riesling are Tanunda’s focus, but they also produce Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Grigio, Muscat, Semillon, sparkling wines and rosés. The entry level Barossa Tower wines are very well made and show great value for premium wines. The Chateau Tanunda Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling can be found at your local ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and are wines not to be confused with the myriad of “critter wines” that can be found in the Australian section of most wine shops. John Geber made it a point to show that Australia is back in the business of producing high quality, great value wines that can be found in the $12 to $25 range that stand with many California and French wines that cost you quite a bit more. At the top of the Chateau Tanunda ladder is a wine produced from 100 plus year old vines, the “The Everest.” These handpicked, basket pressed and unfiltered wines are very limited production bottlings from only the best vintages and receive huge review points from the top wine critics worldwide.

The afternoon spent aboard the Grand Barossa with the enigmatic John Geber was one of the best times I’ve had in quite some time. I hope to cross paths with him again, listen to his great stories and enjoy some of his wonderful wines in the process. 

Ken Amendola, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits wine supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena