When brothers Jack and Eddie Hirsch purchased a property in the Yarra Valley in 1990, their plan was to breed and race thoroughbreds. But, as with many plans, things took an unexpected turn. The fertile soil offered new potential for the land, and the brothers decided to plant their first grapevines in 1998.
This journey fostered their passion for winemaking, and the harvest from their inaugural vintage arrived in 2001. In 2004, they expanded their focus to commercial wine sales, introducing Hirsch Hill wines to restaurants and bottle shops across the Yarra Valley and Melbourne’s inner suburbs.
Over the next 16 years, the family business solidified its presence within the Yarra Valley, with Jack expanding their vineyard acreage, planted to pinot noir (predominantly), cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot and cabernet franc. Things changed in 2020, when second-generation Ben Hirsch transitioned to the role of general manager, making the decision to internalise all winemaking operations and appointing Peter Mackey as chief winemaker.
“We are legacy winemakers who have a genuine, innate passion for wine and a love for the Yarra Valley region,” says Ben Hirsch. “We’re determined to wake up an industry that’s accepted the way things are – that is, the belief that every step of winemaking, bottling and storage has to be outsourced to different companied, while still aiming to run a sustainable business.”
This ethos has spurred Hirsch Wine Group to take big steps over the last two years, expanding the winemaking team to include Tom Belford and Charlie Osbourne, and undertaking a new business venture which offers bespoke winemaking services to clients.
Ben says, “In simple terms, we’ve created a one stop shop: an end-to-end facility where wineries or businesses within the industry of all sizes can come to us, tap into our state-of-the-art equipment, where we will produce, bottle and store our client's wine all under the same umbrella.”
To give you a sense of the scale of the operation, their winery can produce up to 4000 tonnes in any given vintage, with three million litres of tank storage. Their brand new, 100 per cent automated bottling line can bottle 2500 units per hour and their new storage facility, which has been transformed from an old chicken farm, has 6000 square metres of temperature-controlled storage space.
“To my knowledge there is not another service like this at our scale and quality in Victoria,” says Ben. “Beyond cost savings, better quality and efficiencies, we hope it will help our clients’ businesses grow.”
Ben says that his uncle, who was a local identity known for his love (bordering on obsession) of all things wine, would be happy to know Hirsch Wine Group is making it easier for the industry to create good wine, albeit on a much larger scale and without the headache that logistics and bottling can cause.
“My uncle left a huge hole in the family when he passed and our expansion of Hirsch Wine Group is a way of remaining connected to him. Although, he didn’t care about the commercial side, he just cared about viticulture, forward-thinking winemaking and enjoying wine with friends and family.”
This love of quality wine and winemaking is at the heart of Hirsch Wine Group’s operations, for both the winery, which continues to produce wine under the Hirsch Hill brand, and their new client winemaking services.
For more information, please contact Michael Coggan (sales and operations manager) at michael@hirschwinegroup.com.au.
Or visit hirschwinegroup.com.au.
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