Winemaker
Stuart Bourne
Stuart brings his extensive experience to Château Tanunda having previously worked Barossa Valley Estate where he completed ten consecutive vintages as Winemaker. During his tenure at BVE the E&E Black Pepper Shiraz was elevated from Excellent to Outstanding in the Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine and was named by Wine Spectator as one of the Top 25 Benchmark Wines from Australia.
Château Tanunda proprietor, John Geber is delighted with Stuart Bourne’s appointment “Stuart’s accomplishments and experience combined with his dynamism will suit Chateau Tanunda very well. Over the years many winemaking greats have honed their craft here including Geoff Merrill, Grant Burge, Max Schubert, Peter Taylor and Robert O’Callaghan amongst others and I am sure Stuart will more than live up to his predecessors’ achievements. Our winemaking team of Ben Edwards and James Adams is very much looking forward to working with Stuart in the ongoing pursuit of excellence. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank former Château Tanunda winemakers Ralph Fowler and Tim Smith who established and refined our house style respectively. Their hard work culminated in the award of three trophies at the UK’s International Wine & Spirit Competition in 2010: Australian Wine Producer of the Year, World’s Best Shiraz for The Everest Shiraz 2005 and World’s Best Single Estate Red Wine for The Everest Grenache 2008.”
Stuart’s family are grape growers in the renowned Watervale sub-region of the Clare Valley. He holds a BSc in Pharmacology, Anatomy and Histology from Adelaide University. He then saw the light and studied Agricultural Science with an Oenology Major at the same institution. Valuable winemaking experience was gained in Western Australia at Chittering Estate before he moved to Leasingham Wines followed by Crabtree Wines, both in the Clare Valley. He then relocated to the Pyrenees region of Victoria in 2000 as winemaker with Blue Pyrenees Estate before returning home to South Australia to join BVE in 2001. Outside of winemaking, Stuart’s other passions in life are his family, enjoying great food with wine and striving to keep his golf handicap below 18.
Winemaker: stuart@chateautanunda.com