Philosophy and History
History
The seeds were sown in 1985. Max was feeling in need of a hobby. After much thought he decided to make some wine from his home. Karen tried to discourage him, saying “your hobby must be different form what you do for a living”. Max listened dutifully, then bought a piece of steel and spent the rest of winter drilling the holes for his first grape crusher… and so began his first “shed wine”.
Max’s hobby was also of interest to family, friends and neighbours. This was fortunate as they were often asked to bucket grapes into the crusher and later to help with the bottling of these small amounts of wine. A good barbeque and plenty of wine ensured these days were always fun and never a chore.
Lynton Enever, a friend with a passion for vines, was very persuasive in his desire to plant grapes on a back paddock. Soon there were more barbeques as we learnt to graft and plant vines. It was only a small step to deciding “now” was a good time to start our own winery. The 10th of March 1990 was our opening day — we started with seven wines; four white, two red and one port. It was a very exciting time with many family and friends traveling long distances to wish us well and enjoy the atmosphere of our first Tastes of Rutherglen.
The social side of Cofield Wines has continued to develop with the addition of a rotunda and barbeque area in 1993 and many special dinners held at the winery throughout the years. The Cofield family has always treated their customers as friends and continues to do so.
Max has a passion for producing sparkling wines and this was rewarded in 1993 when Divine Magazine voted the 1992 Cofield Wines Sparkling Shiraz as the Best Sparkling Burgundy in Australia. The legend of our Sparkling Shiraz was born and continues today with Damien inheriting that passion and carrying on the tradition of producing the premium sparkling wines that Cofields are renowned for.
In the 15 years of operation Cofield Wines has grown from a Mum and Dad (Max and Karen) operation to now involve two of their sons Damien (with wife Melanie) and Andrew and a team of dedicated wine lovers. However, you can still call into the winery and find a family member working behind the counter, in the winery, the office or out in the vineyard. The family is involved in all aspects of the business. Max and Karen’s friendly faces are often seen cruising around and chatting to old and new friends at cellar door. They have always made everyone feel welcome and part of the extended Cofield Wines family. The next generation, Damien and Andrew have inherited the friendly personalities of Max and Karen and continue the tradition of enthusiastically welcoming new generations into the enjoyment of Cofield Wines.
More than a winery: Cofield Wines is a family of wine lovers.
Philosophy
To provide all our customers with an enjoyable, exceptional experience and ensure they feel like members of the extended Cofield Wines family.
To make the best wine that we can, deliver distinctive, varietally honest, quality wines and share our passion for wine with the world.
The Wines:
Cofield’s table wines are distinctive varietal, high quality wines that provide value for money. These wines show the distinctive flavour characters of the individual varieties that they are produced from. They provide varietally honest, good quality wine that consumers can enjoy with confidence and appreciate without breaking the bank.
We are especially known for our sparkling wines and in particular the Sparking Shiraz, which is our icon wine. The Sparkling Shiraz is positioned as one of Australia's premium sparkling red wines from a boutique winery and has a style that is distinctly Cofield’s. All our Sparkling wines are made using the Traditional Method and are varietally honest and focus on showing fruit flavour rather than being oak complexed or oak dominant.
The QuartzVein range is a range of single vineyard wines that represent the pinnacle of a father and son winemaking team. They are Cofield’s premium wines and are made as a more full flavoured style with subtle power and silky roundness, rather than the big, blockbuster reds Rutherglen is known for. The wines will only be released from vintages that provide fruit of the highest quality; a move that ensures the QuartzVein range are premium wines.