Melissa & Mike Brown
A natural partnership
A third-generation grape grower, Melissa Brown never intended to join the family business. When she did, she revolutionised the vineyard. Now she’s a leader in sustainable winemaking.
The year Melissa started working with vines, she met Mike, and four years later they launched their own label, Gemtree Wines in the scenic McLaren Vale wine region. As Viticulturist, Melissa grows the grapes in the family vineyard and Mike, as Chief Winemaker and Managing Director, makes the wine. Together they take a minimal intervention approach, letting nature lead the way.
Sustainable evolution
Growing up around her parents’ vineyards in South Australia’s famous McLaren Vale wine region, Melissa had no interest in getting involved. But after returning from an overseas trip and feeling uncertain about what to do with her life, she asked her father if she could work in the vineyard.
“He said, ‘Sure, but you’ll last two weeks because you’re too soft’,” says Melissa. “And that was 25 years ago.”
A third-generation viticulturist, Melissa made some big changes when she took over the vineyard.
“I really care about the environment, so I get a lot of satisfaction out of being able to grow my grapes in a natural way,” she says. “I’m improving the soils and the land that I’m custodian of.”
Over the years, Melissa transformed the vineyard, first adopting organic practices and then going biodynamic.
“I have children and I want to hand over to them land in a better condition than it was handed to me in,” she says. “I want the environment to be the same beautiful environment that I’ve grown up in.”
In the winery, Mike takes a similarly light-touch approach, using minimal intervention techniques to craft wines that showcase Melissa’s work in the vineyard. Bold decision-making is another of Melissa’s traits echoed in the winery.
“We’re making a Grenache Pétillant-Naturel, which is a new product for us and something that requires a little bit of braveness,” she says. “We also do a wine called SubTerra, where we’ve taken a wine and put it into a barrel and buried that barrel back in the vineyard, because that provides the perfect temperature control and also returns the wine to the place it came from.
“We work very closely together. We just like to make wines that can be enjoyed with family and friends.”
“I really care about the environment, so I get a lot of satisfaction out of being able to grow my grapes in a natural way. I’m improving the soils and the land that I’m custodian of.” – Melissa Brown
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