A century of Tahbilk: the Purbrick family reflect on 100 years of ownership

If you’d told Reginald Purbrick in June 1925 that the ramshackle winery he was about to buy, sight unseen, on the other side of the world, would still be in family hands a century on – and among Australia’s most important estates – he’d have spat out his Chateau Tahbilk brandy, cartoon-style.

According to his great-grandson, fourth-generation Alister Purbrick, Reg’s plan was to divide the land into 100-acre dairy blocks and “make a financial killing” by selling them off. “The hero in this story is actually Grandfather Eric,” says Alister. Reg's son travelled with him from London to look at the winery and begin arrangements to retitle it, and "thankfully fell in love with what was then a pretty rundown and dilapidated winery.

"Grandfather then spent the next few years, as he was finishing off his law degree [at Cambridge], trying to convince his old man not to cut it up and sell it, but to restore it to its former glory,” Alister adds. He won the argument, and by 1932, Eric was back in Australia with his wife and one-year-old son, John – Alister’s dad – to personally oversee and manage the restoration of the estate and revitalisation of the brand.

Tahbilk, on the banks of the Goulburn River.

This year marks a century exactly since Reg signed the contract of sale and brought Tahbilk into Purbrick family ownership. It also marks 165 years since the estate was established. In 1860, one million shiraz cuttings were planted at what was then named Tabilk Estate (without the ‘h’) after the local Taungurung word, tabilk-tabilk*, meaning 'place of many waterholes'. Between 1860 and 1865, mudbrick cottages, sheds, stables and a smithy were built on the property, and the first underground cellar was excavated**.

Already more land was being cleared each year to make way for more vines, but the winery hit its peak in the late 1870s with the arrival of vigneron Francois Coueslant from France. Beyond his influence on winemaking, Francois’ legacy includes the white mulberry trees that still line the avenue to the estate, and the iconic, red-roofed lookout tower which is now the cellar door. Francois also changed the name of the estate to Chateau Tahbilk, “to make it sound more sophisticated, we feel,” says Alister. The ‘chateau’ was dropped in 2000, and the winery has been known simply as Tahbilk ever since.

In the decade prior to Eric’s arrival, Tahbilk fell into disrepair – although today, with so much of the original estate immaculately maintained and preserved, it's somewhat hard to imagine. From the ancient, twisted 1860 shiraz vines that still yield fruit, to the 150+ year old mulberry trees, and the white mudbrick buildings and underground cellars which have stood for over 160 years on the banks of the Goulburn River, much of Tahbilk feels timeless; atemporal.

The underground cellars at Tahbilk.

Yet, scratch and you'll uncover the myriad innovations and changes made by each generation, from Eric, to John, to Alister, and now Alister’s daughter, Hayley Purbrick – not to mention the countless other family members who work for the brand or sit on the board. To list a few, it was Eric who introduced rudimentary irrigation techniques, switched the estate’s focus from fortified to table wine, and labelled wines by varietal rather than generic terms like claret or burgundy. John was crucial in expanding sales and distribution outside Victoria. Alister, the family’s first formerly trained winemaker, revolutionised its white winemaking process, and oversaw the introduction of one of Australia’s first wine clubs in the mid ’90s – today, the Tahbilk Wine Club is the largest of its kind in the country, and accounts for between 55–60 per cent of total sales. Alister was also the family’s youngest CEO; a role he was handed when he was just 26 years old in 1978 and held until he semi-retired in 2022 (he remains on board as director).

As for Hayley, while she won’t take over general management until her three sons are older, she has been instrumental in driving emissions reductions and other sustainability initiatives since she joined in 2009 as environmental manager. While work began as far back as 1995 on revegetating the estate and restoring the wetlands (today, about 450 acres of land have been revegetated, and 150 acres of wetlands restored), under Hayley, the winery was accredited as net zero in 2012. Then, in 2023, Tahbilk became the first winery in Australia – and one of only a handful in the world – to be able to meet net zero accreditation without buying carbon credits. Hayley has also connected with the land’s Traditional Owners, the Taungurung people, who now run cultural tours and experiences through the estate’s wetlands.

Hayley, John and Alister Purbrick.

One hundred years of ownership – or custodianship, as the family prefer to think of it – is an opportunity to reflect on their legacy and what they’ve achieved so far. “The fabric of the Purbrick family is totally entwined with Tahbilk and all it represents in the world of wine,” says Alister. “It’s one plus one makes three for us.”

It’s also a good time to look at what lies ahead. Although there’s no law that says only a Purbrick can be CEO or general manager (in fact, Ross Sudano replaced Alister as CEO of Tahbilk Group when he retired, and Joanne Nash is GM), shares can’t be sold outside the family. “Future generations, whether they like it or not, are going to be stuck with Tahbilk,” says Alister.

While it’s impossible to truly guarantee the future of a winery or any agricultural endeavour in the current climate – both financial and environmental – the work the family has done on encouraging visitation through on-site experiences (such as wetland tours, boat rides, ghost tours and the restaurant), maintaining and growing the wine club (“That’s where we’re putting 100 per cent of our effort at the moment,” says Alister), improving the land and physical environment, and continuing to produce the best possible wine completely from estate-grown fruit has been, and will continue to be, vital.

Members of the Purbrick family.

The sustainability of the Australian wine industry as a whole is also something the family considers – Alister is outspoken about the need to reduce vineyards by around 25–30 per cent across the country to balance supply and demand, and has recently pulled out 325 acres of vines across two estate-owned sites in the wider Goulburn Valley.

“We have a saying here that a legacy is earned, not inherited, and to leave a legacy means you have to put in the hard yards,” Alister says. “Part of the hard yards is to build and continually improve the pedigree and reputation of the brand, and leave it in better shape for the next generation to then work on. So far, we've got five generations standing behind that – now we wait and see what the sixth generation thinks.”

** The second underground cellar was excavated and built in 1875 by Reg Purbrick’s cousin, James – a fact which casually adds 50 years onto the Tahbilk/Purbrick story.
 
 Explore Tahbilk's wines here.