The vineyards have been in the family since 1980, but in 1998 to Andrew Buttery, his sister Melissa and her partner Mike Brown decided that it was time have an own wine label. They chose the name of the wine label to be Gemtree. Named after the vineyard that mom and dad Buttery in the eastern corner of McLaren Vale already worked for some time.

While Andrew is doing the business side of the company, Melissa is doing the biodynamic grape growing in the vineyard. Sheep are grazing for grass and weeds among the vines and that is environmentally friendly instead of using pesticides curb and tractors. Initially her father was not so happy with this development. He was accustomed to neat vineyards without a blade of unwanted green but he got used to it.

Self Certified greenie
Melissa is also responsible for the grapes located between the Gemtree Wetlands. A defined green oasis for thousands of native grasses and trees. A little pond where frogs, turtles, birds and shy animals can retreat. It’s open to the public. Melissa is not only a self-proclaimed greenie, she is also convinced that it is good for the grapes. "Monoculture is working pests and diseases under control, biodiversity make the vines healthy."

Winemaker Mike makes, in any case, highly acclaimed wines, which, with reference to the name of the company, are named after (gem) stones. Like the tight crisp, green apple Moonstone Savagnin, made from a grape you find in the Jura in France. Or the Luna Roja Tempranillo, full and spicy.

Pioneering Shiraz experiments
Mike Brown makes several Shiraze wines. The dark fruit in his Uncut Shiraz is sultry, seductive and strong. Even more interesting is perhaps his most well-extracted experiment White Lees Shiraz. Mike once had matured a cask of his best Shiraz for more than two years on the yeast cells of a Chardonnay he had made. The result of the process, which he has repeated since then for several times, is a remarkably vibrant Shiraz with delicious taste of black fruit and a very long finish. The British wine authority, Jancis Robinson, finds Mike 2006 White Lees Shiraz "a truly ground-breaking wine."

This article was created on May 11, 2011 by Journalist Remke de Lange. For more wine articles: www.remkedelange.nl. This article is copyrighted