Tim Smith
THE REAL THING
Tim Smith doesn’t have time for any wine ‘elitism’. He’s busy crafting authentic, delicious, sell-out wines that have made him one of the Barossa’s best.
After growing up in Adelaide and leaving school at 14, Tim was living the dream working as a roadie for Australian rock bands. But when he started a family, the rock-and-roll lifestyle had to stop, so he got a job as a cellar hand in a Barossa Valley winery. That was the start of an impressive career that’s lasted 30-plus years and counting. Today, Tim’s own wine label is one of the most awarded in Australia.
Bottling the best of the Barossa
Tim was sitting outside a famous winery in France’s northern Rhône wine region, drinking a glass of Viognier after working a vintage, when he realised he wanted to start his own label. He’d worked for well-known wineries in the Barossa Valley for years, and when he launched Tim Smith Wines in 2001, he made his first batches of wine at night while working full-time.
These days, Tim Smith Wines is one of Australia’s most awarded boutique wineries. Tim’s wines have collected medals all over Australia and around the world, and in 2019, he won the coveted Barons of the Barossa Winemaker of the Year award. It was a meaningful one for Tim, who feels deeply connected to the region.
“I’m fortunate to travel the world and I’ve been to all the major wine regions in the world, but there’s nothing as special to me as the Barossa,” he says.
Tim’s wines include Barossa superstars Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro, as well as Viognier and Riesling from neighbouring Eden Valley. He sources grapes from some of the best vineyards in the Barossa, working closely with the families who tend them.
“My approach to making great wine is to get good grape growers, because they do the hard work; they understand that stuff,” says Tim. “And then, in the winery, it’s kind of a hands-off approach. We don’t overwork the wines.”
These are serious, highly acclaimed wines – but they’re also the wines Tim wants to drink. They’re wines to have fun with.
“I just believe in everything we do at Tim Smith Wines,” says Tim. “If my business goes bankrupt, I’ll end up with some stock and I’ll have to drink it. So I better enjoy it. And I really only want to enjoy authentic, well-crafted, well-thought-out wines from places of serious pedigree.”
“I’ve been to all the major wine regions in the world, but there’s nothing as special to me as the Barossa.” – Tim Smith
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