A winery with a bit of a different story, Lambrook Wines began as a side project for Adam and Brooke Lampit, who had no idea their small passion project in 2008 would turn into a fully-fledged business by 2015. Lambrook Wines is owned and operated by the husband and wife duo: there’s no shareholders and no investors, it is a completely family orientated business. Their hands-on attitude from pallet to palate, as they say, is one of their key points of difference. They make, bottle, sell, and then physically deliver the wine to their customers, which is a real personal touch in today’s incredibly impersonal world.
Beginning with two small parcels of fruit (Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc) and a half-crazy idea of making it into their own label wine, it was always something they’d wanted to do. Both Adam and Brooke had worked in the industry, and they sure as heck knew their way around a bottle of wine. After dreaming for years to see people ordering their wines in restaurants, when they were offered these parcels of spectacular quality fruit, they thought ‘let’s just go for it!’ 
They set about turning the fruit into wine and were extremely hands on, doing a bulk of the work themselves in their kitchen, from the winemaking to bottling to the labelling. “It was fun and stressful and hilarious and annoying and brilliant, and in the end we had 700 bottles of beautiful Lambrook Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc, which lived on a pallet in our spare bedroom for a while,” says Brooke of the beginning of their endeavour.
True Adelaidians, they wanted everything to be done in the Adelaide Hills, and fortunately, through their previous work in the industry, they’d built fantastic relationships with a lot of knowledgeable Adelaide Hills’ experts who were very enthusiastic for their new venture. Sourcing their fruit from premium sites in the Adelaide Hills, each variety is grown in eight separate locations throughout the Hills area. They chose these locations – right down to the row – because they provide optimum growing conditions for each variety, which includes Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Shiraz and three varieties of Pinot Noir. Each has a unique environment in which to flourish, most of their grapes are hand-picked, and they use traditional methods like hand plunging and open fermentation. For Lambrook Wines, there is no compromise: if the fruit is not up to scratch, they simply won’t make the wine.
Beginning with family and friends who loved the wine and began ordering it then and there, they had completed their next task: seeing if people thought it was worth buying. Unsurprisingly, people thought it was well worth the money, and over time, the word spread and they began taking more orders. After approaching a number of boutique retailers and restaurateurs, their business snowballed. But the whole time, it was just them: meeting people, taking orders, answering emails, delivering – everything to do with Lambrook, they did themselves and continue to do themselves.
Over the course of the next few years, they sourced more grapes, added varieties from personally chosen parcels across the Adelaide Hills, and made more quality wine. The half-crazy idea of Lambrook became full-time lifestyle/career for both of them in 2015. When they first started, their goal was to go a restaurant and see their wine being poured; that has now become a reality. Pretty impressive from a couple who just set out to make a few wines that they’d like to drink, huh?
While a lot has changed since the Lampits began Lambrook Wines, much has remained the same: they are uncompromising about the quality of the wine – if the fruit isn’t up to scratch, they won’t make the wine; passionate about creating wines that over-deliver on price; love being involved in the industry and maintaining relationships with everyone they work with and sell to, and they enjoy celebrating and promoting all things Adelaide Hills.
With regular tastings at independent bottle stores to showcase their range, they also get involved in pop-up events around Adelaide like Bowerbird. They are available to buy at independent retail store and are poured in select restaurants/bars, the list of stockists is available on their website. Believing in the importance of supporting the community who supports them, they regularly support charity events, such as CanDo4Kids’s Dinner in the Dark.
After years of hustling, the Lambits have finally turned their dream into a reality. With a success story that’s sure to inspire many, their hands-on attitude speaks wonders about their perseverance as business owners, and is one of many reasons that their delicious range of wine is so highly regarded by the South Australian community.
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