Paracombe Wines
Adelaide Hills , South Australia
Winery Overview
Awarded Best Producer Over 100 Tonnes at 2021 Adelaide Hills Wine Show
Welcome to Paracombe located in the Adelaide Hills, Australia’s premier cool climate wine region. Paracombe is about family, heart and passion. Being ecological in growing and making wine that’s true to the grape, honouring place and telling a remarkable story.
The vineyards and winery are located 425m above sea level, high on an ancient plateau with soils over 1.7 billion years old, some of the oldest in the world. Soils are lean, ironstone, buckshot gravel and clay, gently influencing the wine with greater intensity of minerals and elegant tannins.
The beginnings were rustic and bold, when owners and founders Paul and Kathy Drogemuller bought a burnt out old dairy farm in 1983 after the Ash Wednesday bushfires. With no background or experience in grape growing or wine making, they planted a vineyard and made their first wines in a tin shed with a homemade basket press, second-hand milk tanks and crusher and launched Paracombe Wines around the homestead gardens in 1992.
Paul and Kathy now joined by son Ben and their small team worked hard together, expanding vineyards, designing and building a state of the art winery, underground cellars with stunning cellar door boasting spectacular views. The wines are made, matured and bottled on site and distributed direct from the winery.
The wines benefit from gentle, minimal intervention style of winemaking. The reds see subtle, balanced oak use and cellar maturation prior to release. Paracombe’s strength is in it’s diversity and the ability to produce a superb range of fine wine including exciting new varieties, interesting blends and traditional well loved favourites.
Paul and Kathy’s obsession to make great wine has been recognised with many awards and accolades. People across the world enjoy the labours of their love around a table with good food, family and friends sharing Paracombe wines.
Available in
China, Denmark, Luxembourg, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK
Seeking Distribution in
Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, USA, Vietnam
Winemaker Bio
Owner, Co-Founder and Chief Winemaker, Paul Drogemuller is a former Aussie rules footballer. He is a down to earth big man with a big heart, strong passion and great vision.
His connection to the land came in early days when as young boy he picked pears, apples and chestnuts in the district. His life experience came from a variety of jobs including being a truck driver delivering rolls of paper for newspapers, running a lawn moving round and grain and fodder business before he found his true calling.
It was the bushfires of 1983 that changed everything, buying a burnt out old dairy farm at Paracombe and planting a vineyard with no background or experience in growing grapes or making wine. It was the time of the vine pull scheme when the government were paying people to pull out vines, Paul was busy planting them, with his typical Aussie have a go attitude.
So starting in a tin shed on the home property with a couple of second hand milk tanks, a small crusher and tractor driven, homemade basket press. Paracombe Wines was launched in 1992. Paul discovered building while working on a bridge building project in remote Australia. He used those skills to build and design Paracombe’s underground cellars and winery and stunning tasting facility.
Paracombe has received many accolades and awards. In 2013 Paul was awarded the Adelaide Hills Wine Show Committee Award of Recognition , an award recognising not just Wine Show success but also service to the region, community spirit, drive and dedication.
His naturally creative and intuitive skills are evident with Paracombe’s vineyard plantings, expansions and property development. The layout of his plantings creates a place of beauty to the eye. His deep understanding of his vines and wines are focused on pleasurable drinking and sharing his passion for growing and making great wine.
