A. Retief

Owner and winemaker Alex Retief’s wine career was prompted by his parents planting a vineyard near Ladysmith, in Gundagai, in 1997. He enrolled in the wine science course at CSU, and in 2001 was accepted as the trainee winemaker at the university’s winery. The ensuing years were spent gaining experience in Sonoma Valley (Felzer), the Hunter (working with Andrew Margan), the Languedoc and Bordeaux (where Alex was winemaker at Chateau de Lagarde). Returning to Australia, he launched the A. Retief label in 2008, making wines from both family and contract-grown grapes in the Gundagai, Tumbarumba and Hilltops regions. In 2016 Alex set up the Sydney Urban Winery, located first in St Peters and since 2018 in the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park.