Paul, who has been dubbed “the grape whisperer”, spent a highly-successful 18 years at Penfolds as the premium regions Grower Relations Manager in charge of approximately 600 growers in SA, purchasing 60,000 tonnes of fruit.  He established himself as a leader in his field and built lasting relationships with growers he still calls friends.

These days, Paul and his wife Mara, who has an agribusiness degree, run Paulmara Estates with vineyards in the heart of Marananga in the western ridge of the Barossa Valley.

The couple started the winery in 1999 with one wine, a Shiraz, and the range now includes 15 wines made with fruit grown on the couple’s Marananga home block and in their Paradigm vineyard. 

“Every wine has a story, almost their own personality, but you still know it is from the house of Paulmara Estates as they represent a sense of place,” Paul says.

One of Paul’s work philosophies is the importance of patience and resilience.  “Success doesn’t come overnight, I set my goals in 10 year blocks of time,” he says.

This was particularly true when he set out in 1995 to plant a Shiraz vineyard and see how long it took to manage the vineyard so it would produce grapes good enough to be selected for Penfolds Grange.

“I purchased land on Seppeltsfield Road in 1995 and I encouraged my late father to leave the Riverland and manage a new development project with only one aim: to get into Grange,” he says.

“Planting took place in 1995 and, in 2006, the vineyard achieved the accolade. The vineyard became the benchmark which serviced Penfolds Grange, RWT, St Henri, Bin 389 and Cellar Reserve Sangiovese, to name a few.”

Paul left Penfolds in 2009 to focus on Paulmara Estates and kick off a consulting career with a focus on quality improvement programs. consulting career with a focus on quality improvement programs. 

The knowledge he had gained through being at the forefront of a benchmark program called “wine web”, in conjunction with Dr Patrick Iland and internal work colleagues, cemented his desire to share information for the betterment of the Australian wine industry.

“These programs aim to improve grape quality and inevitably improve returns on investment for the growers. This has been very rewarding as I’ve been able to share knowledge on a broader scale and continually promote premiumisation which is my passion,” Paul says.

He believes that Australia, as a New World wine producer, is in a fortunate position.