Their dream for family involvement inspired Richard and Marie to expand from 5 acres to over 1,200 acres to become one of the largest owners of vineyards in the premium cool climate regions of McLaren Vale and Currency Creek in South Australia. The Shaw family vision included producing high quality wine for the enjoyment of global wine connoisseurs. In 2000 the construction of their ultra modern, state-of-the-art winery was completed. Ballast Stone's wine is produced from grapes picked from their family vineyards and is produced at their Ballast Stone winery that is located in the Currency Creek region. Ballast Stone Estate has a range of distinguished labels comprised of Ballast Stone Estate Range, Stonemason, Steeple Jack and the ultra premium and iconic brands, Emetior & RMS.
The Shaw family is meticulous with their vineyard site selection and has established vineyards of ultra premium quality that are located in two renowned South Australia wine-grape growing districts, McLaren Vale and Currency Creek. The most modern viticultural technologies are combined with time proven, and arguably, an old fashioned hands-on management approach to producing grapes that optimize fruit flavour. It is essential for great wine production that the winemaker and the grapegrower 'connect' to ensure grapes are delivered to the winery at the moment of optimized fruit ripeness. Shaw family ownership of both the vineyards and winery all under a single management structure ensures only wines of exquisite quality and full flavour are produced for global wine markets.
The Currency Creek region is located 60 minutes south of Adelaide and is 20 minutes from the McLaren Vale region via a picturesque, winding road over the Mt Lofty Ranges. This region is located adjacent to Lake Alexandrina and is within 4 km (3 miles) from the Southern Ocean and benefits from cool sea breezes that help with a slow but clean ripening.
This climate allows the grapes sugar and flavour levels to develop while retaining a balanced natural acidity. Cooler than McLaren Vale and the neighbouring Langhorne Creek. Wine experts laud the Currency Creek region for producing consistent style, ultra premium quality and outstanding varietal definition wines.
The McLaren Vale region is located 45 minutes south of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. This region was first planted with vines in the 19th century and has a maritime climate. The afternoon sea breezes are essential to producing wines that exhibit soft, round, normally full bodied wine with intense earthy flavours.
McLaren Vale is renowned for red grape variety wines. Ballast Stone Estate owns some of the oldest vineyards (over 100 years old) in this region. These vineyards produce fruit of intense flavour concentration that make Ballast Stone Estate a sought after producer of ultra premium wine. Preliminary yield estimates are carried out at this time, based on the percentage of bud burst or shoot numbers. Soil moisture levels are carefully monitored during this critical time. The Shaw Family shares a strong commitment to the international market. The have established a family owned import company, Shaw Family Vintners USA Inc, to distribute the Ballast Stone wines. The establishment of this Company brings the family’s involvement right down to ground level, facilitating the same attention to detail and quality wine focused philosophy for which Ballast Stone has become renowned.
In 2000, work commenced on building a state of the art winery, followed by the first crushing in the 2001 vintage. The Ballast Stone winery is in close proximity to Adelaide and other super premium wine and grape growing districts, and takes advantage of the service opportunities and infrastructure this provides. Winery facilities include: 7,500 tonne crushing capacity An EPA licence to process 20,000 tonnes Storage facilities for 5,400,000 litres Fermentation capacity for 1,500,000 litres - 1,500 tonnes per week Barrel storage facility for 3,800 oak barrels Environmentally sustainable waste water treatment facility
