"Red" has always been a consistent colour in my family.
"Is she a redhead?" was the first thing my Mum (Jumble) said when I was born, probably closely followed by Dad (Barbs) having a big gulp of red wine which was always in abundance living so close to Coonawarra - Australia's 'other red centre'.
My families property, Fernhill, located on the lunnettes of Bool Lagoon has the famous red Terra Rossa soil and also exhibits some of the best red sunsets in Australia. We also have had a trusty red Holden Rodeo ute since forever that has become an icon of the farm and just across our neighbours fence line is the most impressive and delicious mulberry tree that makes the red juice stains totally worth it.
So adding red cabernet sauvingon grapes to Fernhill wasn't a huge surprise to my brother and I - it seemed to us to be the perfect addition for our family. Barbs probably saw 'red' a few times during the initial stages of setting up the vineyard - my Dad is very independent guy and likes to get the job done solo and thus he learnt the hard way as he went along this new journey.
I remember the hours spent rock picking, planting, running dripper lines, laying snail bait, putting in posts and finally the planting of the vines and the next summer holidays which were spent training the vines up the wires. I thought we spent a lot of time in the vineyards, but it was nothing compared to Barbs. He spent all his spare time tendering to the vines and countless hours going up and down the rows in the red tractor.
The first picking was certainly a milestone and celebration after 4 years of hard yakka. The grapes were picked by hand and many of our friends, family and neighbours came along to help out, and join in with the celebration drinks. It was a proud moment for Barbs and Jumble and they didn't know this at the time but it was also the beginning of Westmere Wines.
My brother and I have seen the vineyard grow to three blocks and we've witnessed the hardships along with the premium vintages and Barb's consistent hard work, passion and dedication. In 2014, the first Westmere Wines was released called 'Barbs Block' to acknowledge Dad as the founder and all round legend of the product.
The landscape of Fernhill changed with the addition of the vineyards and grew the soul of the property. The vineyards and my parents wine label, Westmere Wines, is now clearly the red beating heart of the farm.
This Christmas (2017) we wanted to give Barbs and Jumble something that would assist with spreading the love of Westmere Wines and this website has been created by Tennis (Alex's tech savvy other half). We hope that the website can help sell bottles and also enable the stories that often get shared over a glass of wine (usually by Jumble) to come alive on this page.
