| | Originally established in 1982, Ladbroke Grove was bought in 2000 by John Cox and Marie Valenzuela. It was named by a local Naracoorte businessman who had lived in London but who later returned to Coonawarra, an isolated region of south-east Australia, to start the business. Taken from the Aboriginal name for 'honeysuckle', Coonawarra is blessed with the union of soil, climate and underground water, making it one best areas in Australia for wine production. All of Ladbroke Grove's vineyards lie either on the, now internationally, famous red strip ('terra rossa') or in the transitional strip, which contains excellent free draining soils. The unique 'terra rossa', or 'red earth', originally underwater, is a result of half a million years worth of mineral deposits, which accounts for its unique character. The rich and free draining soil of this region is considered to be some of the best soil compositions for growing grapes in Australia. This combination of Coonawarra's unique soil, together with its cool and marginal climate, produces vines that are low-yielding and grapes that are both rich in colour and intensely flavoured. Ladbroke Grove specialises in single vineyard wines with a particular emphasis on vine density. Their main vineyards for premium wines have vine plantings between 1350-1500 vines per acre. The vineyard's strategy is to encourage vine competition while controlling vigour by pruning. This tight spacing makes the blocks extremely difficult to manage; however the results warrant the extra effort in the vineyards, since the wines produced have achieved exceptional results in major tasting competitions. Since their purchase in 2000, John and Marie have been constantly updating and renovating the premises. In September 2002, the couple renovated an old 1950's 5PA radio station building and turned it into a cellar door and sales centre. The sales area includes custom-made Australian (plantation) hardwood cabinets and a luxurious "crushed grape" colour on the walls. A small barrel store extension was constructed the next year that now allows visitors to view the barrel shed from the tasting area. Always striving to improve the business, John and Marie are now building a new addition to the winery that will include an ultra modern showpiece cellar door. This new premises will also feature a new 1 million litre tank facility, a barrel store for 3000 barrels (to be constructed) and a new winery processing facility. This new state of the art operation will allow John and Marie to better process their fruit, manage their barrel and tank inventory more effectively and also give them total control over fermentation, timing and cycles during vintage. These fabulous wines are only produced in very limited quantities, just 550 cases of Shiraz Viognier and 500 cases of Cabernet Merlot in 2001. Australian Vineyards Direct is proud to say that we are the sole agents for these fine and rare wines in the UK and Ireland and have secured over half the total production in 2001 wines for the delectation of our customers.
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Presenting awards amongst the crop
Terra Rossa of the Coonawarra region
The grapes ripening on the vines
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