By Melissa Keogh
Sit down for Sunday lunch with the Willson family of Langhorne Creek and it won’t take long for the conversation to wind its way back to something about wine.
That’s because for the Willsons, mixing family with business is all in a day’s work.
Now the family’s 30-year business, Bremerton Wines, has been inducted into Family Business Australia’s
Hall of Fame in a nod to its contribution to the national wine industry and the Fleurieu community.
“It’s terrific and rewarding for lots of hard work,” says Bremerton Wines founder Craig Willson.
“You try not to mix family, business and pleasure too much, but inevitably if we’re having a Sunday lunch it always leads to discussion about the vines.”
The Willson sisters Rebecca, left, and Lucy run Bremerton Wines, which was inducted into Family Business Australia’s Hall of Fame recently.
Craig, wife Mignonne and two daughters Rebecca (winemaker) and Lucy (marketing manager) moved to Langhorne Creek from Whyalla in the 1980s.
They settled on the 40ha Bremerton Lodge – a former irrigated alfalfa farm.
Craig was working in the family’s country newspaper business but dabbling in winemaking with grapes from a neighbour.
He eventually bottled 57 dozen of Cabernet Sauvignon and over the following five years continued experimenting before deciding it was time for the family to plant their own grapes.
Craig, left, Rebecca, Mignonne and Lucy.
“Langhorne Creek was a very small grape-growing region with only about 1200 acres (of vineyards) which had been in the same family for many years,” Craig says.
“It grew very quickly to 16,000 acres.
“In my first eight years here I was travelling every day to Adelaide and Victor Harbor and then on weekends I was up at 6am to do the (vineyard) work that needed to be done.
“But it was a good time.”
Daughters Rebecca and Lucy took the reigns of Bremerton in recent years, meaning the business became the country’s first sister-run winery.
Rebecca is Bremerton’s longest serving employee and at the age of 25 released her first label, a 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon which went on to be rated Winestate Magazine’s third best Cabernet.
She has since taken a swag of accolades and recently was named a 2017 Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year finalist.
Lucy is in charge of Bremerton’s marketing, sales, exports, cellar door and wine club.
Rebecca and Lucy Willson with Family Business Australia SA chairperson Debbie Reed, centre.
Despite hanging up his boots several years ago, Craig still has an input at Bremerton, which he says has thrived due to strict family business values.
“Things like having strategies and boards – there’s so many family businesses that would be far better off if they had one or two board members outside of the family,” he says.
“We also have a family constitution that sets out the guidelines for being part of the family and part of the business.”
It hasn’t always been easy for the Willson family over the years after battling floods and droughts which have wiped out vines.
“The droughts took an enormous toll on Langhorne Creek because we lost our source of water from Lake Alexandrina.
“We’ve also had four floods in the past two years.”
Despite the heartache caused by Mother Nature, Craig says he is proud to see his daughters at the top of the wine game.
“It’s rewarding to see how they have advanced in their own lives and careers,” he says.
“That’s what I find most beneficial.”
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