The story behind South Australia’s Karrawatta begins in a pub. It was 1847, and Joseph Gilbert, having just lost a coin-toss with his neighbour, was forced to change the name of his Barossa Hills property from his chosen Karrawatta, meaning ‘redgum land’, to Pewsey Vale, after his home in England.
Despite losing the bet, Joseph was undeterred. He continued to build on his homestead at Pewsey Vale, planting vines that same year and beginning a legacy of fine winemaking that would span multiple generations of the Gilbert family.
Mark Gilbert, the great-great-great grandson of Joseph Gilbert, is the owner and winemaker of the Karrawatta of today. However, besides the name, inspired by his ancestor’s original property, the modern-day Karrawatta is not a legacy handed down, but Mark’s unique creation.
Karrawatta's Mark Gilbert.“We started with nothing,” Mark says, reflecting on the journey that brought him to the vineyards of Langhorne Creek, Adelaide Hills, and McLaren Vale. Mark didn’t grow up around wine, or even in South Australia for that matter. He was raised in Melbourne, where he studied science at university before he switched tack to pursue winemaking. In 2004, Mark moved to Adelaide to take on a role as viticulture manager in a vineyard management business, which he later purchased and renamed Karrawatta Viticulture.
Mark’s background in both science and vineyard management have given him the practical tools, but his winemaking philosophy remains profoundly rooted in respect for the land. “All we are is quality focused,” he says.
