For some it was the castle, rising out of the Rutherglen flats like something from an imaginary land. For others it was a single glass - a Chenin Blanc, a Shiraz, a fortified poured in the family cellar - that turned a passing visit into a love affair spanning decades. As we celebrate our Life Members, we asked a few of them to cast their minds back to the very beginning.
For Denis, that beginning was “probably 50 or 60 years ago,” under different ownership, and what has stayed with him is pure romance: the beauty of the winery, he says, “almost like a fairy tale.” Doug and Karen tell a similar story - a weekend exploring the wine region when “our first sighting of the castle and gardens just captivated us.” They enjoyed the wines and signed up as members then and there.
Often, though, it was a single bottle that did the work. Peter first encountered All Saints Estate in the mid-1970s through “a bottle of 1970 Shiraz which had the Lyre Bird label,” drawn from a friend’s cellar - he admired its quality even then. He joined the St Leonards wine club in 1984, visiting for the first time alongside his girlfriend (now his wife).
David’s own journey began in 1980, on a trip to Rutherglen with his partner and friends: “It’s such a long time ago, but I distinctly remember enjoying a glass of St Leonards Chenin Blanc!” - the first step of what is now a 46-year friendship with the estate.
That St Leonards connection threads through many of these stories. Ian called in at the St Leonards cellar door in the mid-90s, driving home to Canberra after visiting his daughter at university in Adelaide. He liked the wines, joined the club, and “feel[s] very lucky that this also connected me to All Saints.” Julie goes back even further: “We found All Saints at least 40-plus years ago - picnics on the grass, tasting wine of quality for the first time, and learning so much.”
Perhaps no story captures the spirit of those early days better than Karen’s. Travelling with friends en route to Albury, they called into All Saints and her travel companion unexpectedly reunited with their old friend, Peter Brown. An hour of happy reminiscing later, Peter mentioned he was thinking of starting a “Pioneer Club” for the winery. “No emails in those days,” Karen recalls, “so I gave him my address and he signed me up.” In that first year, in the early ’90s, she received her Wine Club Cellar Key - “which I still have.”
Different decades, different first glasses, one unmistakable castle. What began as a weekend detour or a friend’s recommendation became, for each of these members, the start of a relationship measured not in years but in lifetimes. In our next edition, we’ll raise a glass to the memories they’ve made here ever since.
