Brit Wine Industry Student Shaun Bryans and his family are shining examples of what can be done with a little vision, niche marketing and a lot of hard work and determination.

Shaun's family farm, Avonmore Estate near Elmore, is one of a handful of bio-dynamic vineyards in Australia and recently featured on the SBS Wine Lovers Guide.
The interest is hardly surprising considering their first vintage of Cabernet won commendations from wine shows including the 2001 Victorian Wine Show.
Now plans are aloot for the establishment of a winery.

So follows Shaun's story:

Avonmore Estate was by no means a quick and easy establishment! The original farm was and still is a beef, sheep, cropping combination - but our philosophy of farming is not in the conventional rut. At Avonmore Estate we pride ourselves on practising bio-dynamic agriculture which, in short, is a far more enhanced form of organics.

My parents Rob and Pauline, started to convert our farm in 1989, a couple of years later we recieved full bio-dynamic registration.
In the mid 90's we drilled down a bore to water lasered irrigation bays and realised the quality of water could be used for diversifying one of our paddocks into a vineyard.

So, in 1996 it all began, using locally cut ironbark posts (which I'm sure will remain there next century), we constructured five acres, finally planting in 1997. I had just finished a mechanical apprenticeship, so once we completed block one I set off to Western Australia to work in the mining industry. In the two and a half years I was gone block two was established.

During the planning stages of the third block my father had to undergo a shoulder reconstruction so I returned home full-time to keep the momentum going, Once the stage was conpleted, it was time for the grapes from the earlier blocks to be harvested. Understanding the vineyard side of the operation, I was very keen to see how it was produced once it left the vines.

Our grapes were headed for Tisdall Wines, so I got on their vintage team and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Since then, doing both Certificate II and III in wine production at BRIT, also joining their team as required in the winery. We have recently finished the construction and planning of our forth stage. In the beginning it was literally trial and error, but now i think we have the experience to build them much more efficiently. Our grape varieties currently include Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc and Viognier.

We are in the initial stages of constructing a winery at home which will eventually see us to make all wines on site. At this stage we are experimenting with small batches, but once again it's trial and error. As friendly as our industry is, the wine supply is growing so you will need a niche and ours is chemically free bio-dynamic. For us it's more than a marketing ploy - it's all about long-term substainability and producing quality rather than quantity.

Article taken from "The Juice" December 2001 Volume 1, No 2