Sebastiano Brini arrived in McLaren Vale from Italy in 1950 with a suitcase, five pounds and a passion for growing grapes. He spoke no English.
Like many European immigrants of this time he worked hard to establish a better life in his new country. He worked as a labourer in local vineyards and by 1953 had saved enough money to purchase a property in Blewitt Springs. At the time, two thirds of the property was used to run dairy cows and the other third had established grapevines (Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro), planted by returned serviceman in the late 1940’s as part of a soldier settlement scheme.
With the help of his family, the property was progressively planted to all grapevines and the varieties now include Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro, Merlot, and Chenin Blanc for a total planting of 17 hectares. Planting occurred in the mid to late 1940’s, the 1960’s and late 1990’s. Over the years the vineyard has gained a proud reputation of supplying grapes to some of Australia’s finest red wine producers including Penfolds, Rosemount Dárenberg and Maglieri. In 1988 Sebastiano died as a result of a tractor accident and sons Marcello and John continued to manage the vineyard. In the year 2000 John and Marcello established Brini Estate Wines to produce small batches of premium quality wines from the vineyard they grew up on.
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