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My father, Pasquale, planted the vineyard in 1972, after I
decided I wanted to be a winemaker. My late brother, Dominic,
loved wine and winemaking. He ran the bottle shop at our
family's supermarket, and it was his enthusiasm and my love of
science that led to my becoming a winemaker.
The new winery was opened in 1982 and one of the wines made in
that first year was Lillypilly Tramillon®, a unique blend of
traminer and semillon. Picking of the second vintage commenced
in February 1983, with traminer the first grape to be harvested.
Later that afternoon, two massive hailstorms completely
devastated the crop, and harvest of all varieties was abandoned
for the year.
Just a few hours later, I received the news that our 1982
Tramillon® had been awarded a gold medal and trophy at the
Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Lillypilly Tramillon® was an instant hit, and has developed a
great following, but my father, in nearly 40 years of farming in
Australia, has never before
 or
since, seen hail like the day it destroyed our 1983 crop.
The semi-arid climate that prevails in the Riverina softens
towards the end of autumn with cool nights, and mornings made
damp by fog and dew.
These are perfect conditions for the development of botrytis
fungus on the grapes, and the production of sweet white botrytis
wines.
The climate is one of the strengths of the Riverina region,
helping to make it an ideal wine grape region in Australia, and
the main factor in making it one of the best producers of
botrytis wines in the world. Lillypilly Estate currently
produces four botrytis wines, along with a range of red and
white wines including Tramillon® and Red Velvet®, which are both
unique to our winery. But, as every farmer knows, each year is
different and each year is a challenge as we try to produce the
best crop while relying on our friend and enemy, the weather.
Robert Fiumara (Winemaker)
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