Weaver
About Weaver
Geoff Weaver has journeyed from the big end of town to a tiny, intimate pocket of the Adelaide Hills. Back in 1988 he was appointed chief winemaker for the Hardy group of companies, where he oversaw winemaking for around 10% of Australia’s grapes. In 1992 he made the break from corporate winemaking to pursue his own dream on the Lenswood vineyard that he and wife Judith had started planting a decade earlier. Those vines, some of the oldest in the Hills, are really reaping the rewards of maturity.
Geoff is clearly one of Australia’s elite white winemakers. His is one of Australia’s best and longest-lived Chardonnays and the oft-overlooked Riesling is beautifully aromatic and mineral. Add to this a Sauvignon Blanc that can only be described as immaculate, while the wild yeast, partial barrel-fermented, oak-aged Ferus Sauvignon Blanc is a gorgeous example of this style. Against a tidal wave of Sauvignons from ‘across the ditch’, it’s comforting to know that there’s one from this particular island that can hold a torch to any of them.
About Geoff Weaver
Geoff has been involved in the wine industry since he joined Orlando in 1972. Geoff progressed to the position of white winemaker for Thomas Hardy and Sons in 1975, where he was responsible for the vintages at Siegersdorf in the Barossa and at Waikerie and Padthaway. In 1988 Geoff was appointed chief winemaker for the Hardy group of companies overseeing winemaking of around 10% of Australia’s grapes.
Even then, Geoff recognised that the future of Australian wine depended on the quality of the vineyard, so he and wife Judith embarked on a project to grow the best possible fruit in a new state-of-the-art site at Lenswood. This was a pioneering venture into an untried region. They planted the vineyard at Lenswood in 1982 and have steadily developed it to its current 11 hectares.
In 1992 Geoff made the break from corporate winemaking and left to pursue his winemaking dreams at Lenswood full time. In doing so his responsibility went from 120,000 tonnes of fruit at Hardy’s to 70 tonnes from Lenswood.