Rick Kinzbrunner
PERFECTING THE CLASSICS
Winemaker Rick Kinzbrunner worked around the world before buying land in Victoria’s then-fledgling Beechworth wine region, based on nothing but instinct. Today his classically styled wines are better than ever.
Rick’s passion for wine came out of nowhere – he was a mechanical engineer whose family had rarely popped more than a sparkling wine at Christmas. But in the 1970s, he got a taste for it and it became a fascination that’s sustained him for more than four decades. Rick’s love of wine sits at the heart of everything he does at his award-winning winery, from digging weeds to barrel tasting in his granite cave.
Rick believes in making wine that he personally loves and not steering too far from tradition.
An instinct for quality
Since buying the block of land that is now the Giaconda vineyard and winery in rugged Beechworth, Rick has rarely stood still. He’s always looking for the next step, the next opportunity to be better. Over the years, he’s had an impressive cave excavated out of solid granite to store and age wine barrels underground, and converted to organic farming.
“I think moving towards organic and traditional and sustainable practices is very important,” says Rick. “And I do believe that an organic wine is going to be a better wine than an industrially made wine with chemicals.”
His relentless pursuit of quality has paid off, with Giaconda wines winning many awards. Rick himself has been named Gourmet Traveller WINE’s Winemaker of the Year and one of the world’s 10 best white winemakers by Decanter Magazine.
Bringing together everything he learnt as a young winemaker in Bordeaux, California and New Zealand, Rick produces authentic Beechworth wines that reflect the unique plot of land he bought in the early 1980s.
“I had seen some research that had suggested Beechworth would be a very good place to grow grapes and make wine, though at that stage there were no wineries here,” says Rick. “One day I was driving towards Beechworth and I saw a ‘for sale’ sign, and I just bought the property without any research. It was just good luck and good instinct.”
Rick was spot on – the soils at Giaconda, which sits at the foothills of the North-East Victorian Alps, produce top-quality fruit that goes into Rick’s premium Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz wines.
Rick’s son Nathan joined the business in 2007, assisting with winemaking, managing the business side of things and continuing Rick’s legacy. This father-son team is now focused on doing less, producing a smaller range of wines, and doing it better.
“I’d just like to be thought of as having been a pioneer of Beechworth in one way and to leave a legacy of premium wines, interesting wines, that will last and live for many years,” says Rick.
“I’d like to be thought of as having been a pioneer of Beechworth, and to leave a legacy of premium wines, interesting wines, that will live for many years.”– Rick Kinzbrunner
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