THE Dawkins family are celebrating 25 years of winemaking at Glenmaggie Wines.

Tony, Fleur, and their son Jack are inviting the public to mark the occasion of this anniversary on Sunday, June 23. The family will be bringing out all the community’s favourite wines, plus three new wines, along with a three-course meal and plenty of memories to share.

Tony and Fleur said patrons at the celebration will be the first to try their new Chardonnay, Shiraz and Sparkling Pinot Noir, all three of which the winemakers are very proud of.

Tony, who is a self-taught winemaker, says the celebration will be as much about the journey as it will be about the nature and history of the winemaking.

“We will be looking right back to the original vision for a vineyard here on the property, through the process of continuing to milk cows as we planted and grew the vines – Fleur was commuting back and forth from Melbourne and her nursing career,” he said.

“The excitement of bottling our first ever wines, through to our first awards, and the thrill of consistently growing, making, and sharing with our friends and customers wines that are true to our terroir and climate, and true to our ideal of the product we want to make.”

Fleur says the original vision was simply to create a lifestyle on the land, where Tony had grown up, and where they wanted to have their own family.

“Of course, wine was our first choice, but we didn’t know if it would be possible at our location. But Tony had a friend who worked with him to test the terroir and we discovered it was basically ideal,” she says.

“That was our go ahead to determine the best varieties and start planting.”

With sustainability a key value, the couple set about doing everything together – building their home, diving into parenthood, planting and tending the vines, milking the cows, making the wine, bottling, distributing – you name it, it was a team effort.

And as Jack grew with the vineyard and winery enterprise, he became more and more involved at every step. Culminating in him working side-by-side with Tony to build the new cellar door – the venue for the 25th anniversary celebrations.

“We have had a lot of laughs, a lot of tears, a lot of barneys and a lot of great teamwork over the years. And we’ll be sharing the highlights at our celebration,” Tony said.

“We are looking forward to catching up with old friends and new, and having a fantastic afternoon.”

Tickets are available at trybooking.com/CSANU and are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment.