As we celebrate this 30-year milestone we are proud to have built a wine brand of unique wines that we have farmed and made ourselves and that are enjoyed by so many. We are proud to have been awarded many accolades over the years but feel this is the most important measure of our success.
As we move into the next decade, we acknowledge the support of our family and friends who have helped us make it this far. Our eldest son Ollie is already adding valuable contributions to our business and we look forward to seeing how the next generation will steer Margan Wines forward across decades to come.
In 2007 we built and opened our striking rammed earth Cellar Door and Restaurant so that our Margan fans could visit the home of Margan and enjoy a unique wine and food experience built around an estate grown and made ethos.
Our additional vineyards of Timbervines, Fordwich Hill and Saxonvale are all planted on the ancient volcanic soils of the Fordwich Sill. They give our wines their signature personality and sense of place. Over the decades we have got to know each vineyard, their unique aspects, the varieties and clones we grow on them and the individual blocks within them. Our range of wines now celebrate these Single Vineyards and are labelled accordingly.
Interview
30 Years of Margan
Family Winegrowers since 1996
We purchased this property in 1989 and optimistically named it Ceres Hill after the Roman goddess of the harvest. It was mostly a bare paddock monoculture, but we cultivated a small block of it and planted our first vines which were Semillon.
Where it all began
Over the decades we have built our home, raised our family of three children, built a winery, grown a wine brand and added a cellar door, restaurant and beautiful barrel room. We have planted additional blocks of vines to now total over 30 acres on this property. Ceres Hill has been the first vineyard in the Hunter Valley to grow Barbera and the first in Australia to grow Albarino. Both these varieties have become increasingly important to the Margan brand and continue to produce world class examples of these emerging varieties.
In addition, we established an extensive Restaurant Kitchen Garden and Orchard, olives, bees, grass-fed Suffolk sheep and native tree lots. Importantly, we have adopted a regenerative farming approach which has been a meaningful evolution for Ceres Hill. The property has gradually become home to a diverse range of flora and fauna co-existing with our grapevines in a healthy environment.
We follow a detailed Environmental Management Plan supporting the four key pillars of Sustainability and are proud to have been the first in the Hunter Valley to become certified Sustainably Farmed with Sustainable Winegrowers Australia.
It is important for us to look after this land, and hand on Ceres Hill in great condition for future generations to enjoy.
In addition, we established an extensive Restaurant Kitchen Garden and Orchard, olives, bees, grass-fed Suffolk sheep and native tree lots. Importantly, we have adopted a regenerative farming approach which has been a meaningful evolution for Ceres Hill. The property has gradually become home to a diverse range of flora and fauna co-existing with our grapevines in a healthy environment.
We follow a detailed Environmental Management Plan supporting the four key pillars of Sustainability and are proud to have been the first in the Hunter Valley to become certified Sustainably Farmed with Sustainable Winegrowers Australia.
It is important for us to look after this land, and hand on Ceres Hill in great condition for future generations to enjoy.
