A Passion for Proving What Makes Australia Special

While I’ve been lucky to taste a few good Australian wines, they have been big-ticket, well-known brands that consistently receive top critic scores and international recognition. But I realized I knew very little about Australia, its wine regions, and what makes it special. It’s also hard when many of the wines that make it to America do not come from family wineries and tend to have eye-catching labels with cute animals backed by a global conglomerate.

According to Wine Australia, there are 2,156 wineries and approximately 6,000 grape growers employing 163,790 full and part-time employees across 65 wine growing regions in Australia, contributing over $45 billion annually to the Australian economy.

Darren Rathbone, the CEO and Group Winemaker of the Rathbone Wine Group

I had a chance to chat with Darren Rathbone, the CEO and Group Winemaker of the Rathbone Wine Group, a family-owned Australian wine group based in Melbourne.

Darren received his college degree in chemical engineering, but when his father and uncle purchased 30 acres in 1995, he made the decision to go to UC Davis to pursue his master’s degree in enology. After receiving his degree, he worked for Spottswoode, Etude and Chateau Lynch-Bages and Domaine Moreau Bernard & Fils in France before returning home to work for his family winery in 2002. Darren is a winemaker with a passion for producing wines that show the uniqueness of Australia. He has over 30 years of experience in the