Kingston Estate was established in 1979 by Sarantos and Constantina Moularadellis, when they planted 40 acres of vines in South Australia's Riverland. This family owned winery is now in the care of son, Bill Moularadellis, who further developed the business with expansion of

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

throughout the

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria downstream to Blanchetown. The major town centres are Renmark, Berri, Loxt ...

, sourcing grapes from farmers in Adelaide Hills, Coonawarra,

Clare Valley The Clare Valley is a valley located in South Australia about north of Adelaide in the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council area. It is the river valley formed by the Hutt River but is also strongly associated with the roughly parallel Hill Riv ...

, and Langhorne Creek. Kingston is now

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by a ...

sixth largest

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

in terms of tonnes of grape intake, and twelfth largest in terms of total revenue. It's

winery at Kingston-on-Murray, approximately 220 kilometres from

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, produces more than a million cases of wine each year. Of this branded wine, 60 percent is exported to markets such as the UK,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and Sweden, as well as to emerging markets such as China and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Kingston employs more than 70 full-time staff, with staff expanding to 100 during vintage. The winery has a milling capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year, and a storage capacity of 30 million liters. The Kingston Estate winery is the sixth largest winery in Australia in terms of wine grape intake. Kingston is located in one of Australia's main wine-producing regions, with about 30% of South Australia's wine being made within a 40-kilometre radius of the Kingston winery.

History

1956: Sarantos and Constantina Moularadellis emigrate independently from Greece and settle in South Australia's Riverland. 1961: The Moularadellis family purchased a small fruit block in Kingston-on-Murray. 1965: The family purchased a second 40-acre Riverland property planted with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot vines. Initially, grapes from this property were sold to major wine producers. 1979: Kingston Estate is established. 1985: Eldest son Bill Moularadellis (born 1964) graduated in oenology from

Roseworthy Agricultural College Roseworthy Agricultural College was an agricultural college in Australia. It was north of Adelaide and west of Roseworthy town. It was the first agricultural college in Australia, established in 1883. It is now part of the University of Adela ...

and joined the family business. 1986: Bill Moularadellis crushed his first vintage of 60 tonnes, principally red, and produced Kingston Estate's first commercial output of some 4500 cases. Bill began to look into export markets, including the UK and Sweden. 1994: Kingston was awarded South Australian business of the year as well as the Kingston Estate 1991 Reserve Chardonnay and won double gold at the San Francisco International Wine Show and the Hyatt Advertiser Award for South Australia's best Chardonnay. 1998: Kingston expands its vineyards, planting about 300 acres of vines on the Sturt Highway, opposite the winery at Kingston-on-Murray. A further 200 acres were planted in 1999. Key components of this expansion were merlot and

petit verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, ...

, until then little known in Australia. 1999: Bill Moularadellis offers long-term contracts to grape growers in other South Australian regions. Approximately 30 percent of the winery's grape intake is now from other premium regions throughout

, including the

, Adelaide Hills, Langhorne Creek and the

Limestone Coast wine zone Limestone Coast zone is a wine zone located in the south east of South Australia. It extends south of a line of latitude approximately in line with Cape Willoughby at the east end of Kangaroo Island and it is bounded by the continental coastl ...

. 2000: Kingston Estate acquired Swan Hill, based Ashwood Grove. 2001: Kingston Estate launched its Kingston Estate Echelon Selection range, focusing on non-mainstream grape varieties. 2003: The Kingston 2002 Echelon Selection Petit Verdot wins top gold in its class at the 2003 Royal Melbourne Show and is the only non-mainstream red in the taste-off for the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy. 2010: Kingston Estate winemaker Donna Hartwig named The Wine Society Members’ Choice

Winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

of the Year at the 2010 Young Winemaker of the Year awards held in Sydney on 12 November 2010 2011: Kingston Estate owner and winemaker Bill Moularadellis appointed to the board of Wine Australia Corporation 2017: Kingston Estate awarded Australian Shiraz Winery of the Year at the 2017 Berlin International Wine Competition. 2018: Kingston Estate is ranked number 12 in a list of 'Australia's largest wine companies' in terms of sales revenue.Top 20, Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker, April 2018, Page 14, Winetitles Media, South Australia.

References

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External links

*https://www.kingstonestatewines.com Wineries in South Australia Australian companies established in 1979 Food and drink companies established in 1979

History

See also

References

External links