Plunkett Family

The Plunkett family motto, ‘festina lente’, is Latin for 'make haste slowly'. Despite the caution, historically this has been a family of pioneers. Three years after buying a farm in the Strathbogie Ranges, Alan and Noni Plunkett planted a small, unirrigated vineyard in 1968 – the first in the region. Several years later an advisor told him to put fertiliser directly onto the plants, which killed nearly every single one. In 1980 an uncanny coincidence of decent wool prices and an agreeable bank manager provided him with the capital to have another go. Alan dug a dam and planted 10 acres of vineyards. He got lucky with a fancy new French variety called Chardonnay, just as the boom in quality Australian wine finally arrived. The vineyards expanded while Alan ventured into winemaking.

The first winery was a hut next to the shearing shed, packed with wine tanks Alan built himself. The local power supply was so bad that when the refrigeration kicked in, the lights in the house would fade to a faint yellow. Alan persevered and continued to plant more vines. His eldest son Matthew increasingly took on managing the vineyards while his second son Sam became the winemaker. Alan then built a winery, restaurant and cellar door next to the Hume Highway at Avenel. Sam's skills grew steadily until his Chardonnay, Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon were sought by Melbourne's better restaurants. Exports to the UK, Canada and Scandinavia took off.

The family was advised that their land was too cool to grow Shiraz, but by 2000 this grape had become the award-winning standard-bearer, the Reserve Shiraz (now The Rule). The Plunkett vineyards are now home to many varietals, including nearly all of the French classics and a growing list of Italian and Spanish rarities.

In 2005 the Plunketts formed an alliance with the Fowles family. Amazingly, after a year into the partnership, our families discovered that our mothers share common ancestry so that Sam Plunkett and Matt Fowles are actually related!