Rymill Wine

The name Rymill is relatively common in Australia, with a Rymill park, Rymill roads and, of course, the Rymill wine. The owner Peter Rymill's middle name is Riddoch, a name that comes from his great-grandfather, John Riddoch who started out as a brickmaker (and interestingly the main occupation for Rymills around this time was stone mason), but he was born in Scotland in 1827 whereas my family seems to have its roots firmly in Banbury - see the Rymill family history page.

Riddoch made a voyage to Australia in 1850 and two years later struck gold at a place called Ovens Valley. His discovery of a nugget worth $1450 allowed him to invest in a wagon and the setting up of a store to provide supplies to other miners of gold in the area. (Just to put that figure into persective, $1.5K was enough back then to buy nearly a dozen small houses!) As his investment paid off, he opened up another shop and, with his brother Alexander as partner, their enterprise benefited from them following the gold, as one area dried up they would relocate to where new discoveries were being made.

It was when John Riddoch's attention was caught by the garden and vines of a man called William Wilson that he began to explore the possibilities of wine-growing in Penola. Riddoch was by this time a millionaire and Wilson advised that the terra rossa soil with limestone base should be followed throughout the area, and so in 1890 an innovative scheme was created whereby Riddoch sold blocks of land to local people and promising to buy all their grapes. In 1897, colonists renamed the land that had been subdivded to form the Penola Fruit Company, "Coonawarra", and it was this name that became attached to the first Riddoch vintage. The 26 "blocker" families even saw yield to prolific vintages such as 1901 but Riddoch died in 1902 and as a result the idea collapsed but the area of Coonawarra is still synonymous with wine today.

Following the death of John Riddoch, his youngest daughter Mary married neighbouring pastoralist Robert Rymill in 1902 and, presumably due to the enormous prestige of the millionaire's name, their first son bore both his mother's maiden name, plus the name of his father, hence John Riddoch Rymill in 1905.

Rymill Coonawarra is known for its excellent Cabernet but also produces a great Sauvignon Blanc that has tropical fruit characteristics. Another enjoyable wine is Rymill MC^2 that has a blend of 40% Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc added.