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Wisdom of generations at Camwell Wines

Meet the bright young things making minimal-intervention wines using fruit grown on their family’s sustainable vineyards writes Katie Spain.

Fifth-generation McLaren Vale grape grower Brad Cameron grew up working in (and planting) his family’s vineyards. Now 28, Brad still spends a majority of his time helping his viticulturist dad Derek tend the fruit.

As they work, more than 80 years of family history whispers on the Fleurieu wind. Brad’s great-great-grandfather, William Cameron, worked for the Tatachilla Group; William’s son Colin planted some of Wirra Wirra’s original vines; and Brad’s 72-year-old grandfather Brian still prunes the vines.

More recently, Brad and his US-born wife Kendra took on winemaker duties for his aunt and uncle’s Railroad Vineyards. The pair also run their own small Camwell Wines brand.

Brad Cameron and Kendra White Cameron in McLaren Vale. Photo: Ben Macmahon
Brad Cameron and Kendra White Cameron in McLaren Vale. Photo: Ben Macmahon

Kendra hails from Rhode Island in the US and cut her teeth in the hospitality industry, working in top restaurants across her homeland and the UK while completing a degree in sustainability at the University of Edinburgh. She met Brad in McLaren Vale during 2015 where she was working vintage for a local winery. They hit it off immediately and are the ying to each other’s winemaking yang. “We really complement each other,” Kendra says. “In the winery our saying is, ‘Brad is the scientist and I am the chef’.”

Brad grins. “She makes more tasting decisions than I do.”

During Camwell’s first vintage (2014) the young winemaker made just one barrel with what he could salvage. “He was literally picking grapes off the end of the rows that weren’t taken by the harvester,” Kendra says. They were humble beginnings. “In the first couple of years everything was done with household items we could find … like grabbing his mum’s pasta sieve to filter wine.”

The fruit was pressed lightly in a restored traditional wooden press (affectionately called Frankenpress) before being left to age in a mix of neutral French and American oak barrels. “Frankenpress was in pretty poor shape when we got it. Basically, it kept dying and we kept bringing it back to life with new parts,” Brad says. “This is the first vintage (2020) we’ve been able to use a very small modern press.”

The couple takes a minimal intervention approach to winemaking and fruit quality is everything. Each vintage, they select the best fruit from either their family-owned or managed sites. “Most of my winemaking is done in the vineyard,” Brad says. “To be honest, 90 per cent of it I have to credit to my dad. He is the brains behind the vineyard and makes all the big decisions. The fruit is wonderful.”

Sustainability is at the heart of everything they do – in the vineyard and solar-powered winery. So too, are family and community values.

The couple is excited to be part of an impressive new wave of McLaren Vale-based wine brands such as SOMOS Wines, Moorak Wines, Year Wines, Sherrah Wines, Berg Herring Wines, Poppelvej and Golden Child.

“There’s definitely a push for some new and exciting styles,” Kendra says. Like Camwell’s dry textural 2019 Mourvèdre Rosé and new release 2018 Syrah. “It’s unbelievable,” Brad says. “We only take two rows out of the block and make it in a really pretty style.”

They also couldn’t have done it without the support of Hither & Yon’s Malcolm and Richard Leask. “They used to pour our only wine (a shiraz) during tastings at their Willunga cellar door to help get our name out,” Kendra says. “They’ve been there for Brad like a second family.”

Then there’s their own flesh and blood.

Camwell Wines winemakers Brad Cameron and Kendra White Cameron. Photo: Ben Macmahon
Camwell Wines winemakers Brad Cameron and Kendra White Cameron. Photo: Ben Macmahon

“Mum is the unsung hero of all this,” Brad says. “She is the queen of everything when it comes to vintage. If mum wasn’t here, there would be no Camwell and no Cameron Vineyard … we’d all be dead from tiredness and hunger. She is literally the angel that’s there when you get home from a 15-hour day that has food on the table and a big smile on her face – even though she’s probably been awake all night because the harvester has been humming up and down the rows right next to her bedroom.”

At present, Camwell’s micro batch production is tiny. Just 300 cases a year. It’s small, but beautiful stuff, available online and through independent wine merchants and bars.

camwellwines.com

CAMWELL WINES

2019 / Light Red

McLaren Vale

Sometimes you just want to kick back, throw caution and seriousness to the wind and go a bit wild, you know? Much like Animal, from The Muppet Show, circa 1975.

Camwell Wines 2019 Light Red
Camwell Wines 2019 Light Red

This McLaren Vale mourvèdre is reminiscent of a drum solo by the shaggy red puppet. Red berries, punchy plum and wild strawberries dance across the palate in a frenzied explosion of flavour. Light, bright, utterly approachable and great for a long autumn lunch
with mates.

$24.95

CAMWELL WINES

2018 / Cabernet Sauvignon

McLaren Vale

Every year, winemaker Brad Cameron and his viticulturist dad Derek stroll through the family’s cabernet block to select the best two rows from which to pluck the fruit for this small-batch beauty.

Camwell Wines 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon
Camwell Wines 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon

It’s an aromatic humdinger. Green capsicum and a lick of spice lead the way to a youthful caramelised plum tart. Flavour, flavour, flavour. Buy a couple of bottles in the name of prosperity (very few were made). Try one now and see how she develops with age.

$29.95

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/delicious-sa/wisdom-of-generations-at-camwell-wines/news-story/e6b5f1bb2e9f7c700e7dbf4427bfb021