Bridget Guiney

Bridget's Story

Growing up in the middle of Australia, at Broken Hill, we didn’t have too many vines around. It was red desert. This gave me an appreciation for the lush green of Margaret River and the vines that they had there. Darren and I were married there in 1999 and we bought a vineyard five years later after spending ten years in the mining industry of Australia.

There are so many things we love about the industry. Tasting the wine through its different stages of maturing until the day it’s ready to bottle, that has to be the most exciting and nerve-racking moment each year! And seeing people drinking and enjoying the wine in a restaurant has to the biggest buzz and we love it.

We're quite a green set-up here at Margaret River. We have been improving our 15 acre vineyard over the years reducing the chemical inputs and increasing the organic inputs. Our small Margaret River vineyard is planted to Bordeaux varieties Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Franc and Malbec. The 2007 vintage is the first one that we have exported with 300 cases going over to Naked Wines in the UK. We are a young couple and have been investing alternative techniques to improve the quality of our vines. Not using herbicides has allowed us to build up the organic matter in the soil and create ground cover for the ground during the harsh Australian summer. The Margaret River ripening period is relatively rain free so there is no competition from the ground cover / weeds.

Bridget's key philosophies:

• Keep it simple
• Fruit and integration of oak
• Balance, balance, balance
• Sit back and enjoy the wine with family and friends
• Enjoy every vintage as they are all very different