Our Story
Joseph Gilbert and his horse ‘Ace of Trumps’.
At a local South Australian pub, a coin was flipped and it landed on tails, meaning Mark Gilbert’s great, great, great grandfather, Joseph Gilbert, lost the bet and had to change his property name from ‘Karrawatta’ to ‘Pewsey Vale’. Joseph Gilbert made his first wine in 1847. Since then, the Gilbert family has continued to produce wine grapes and we are excited to reignite Karrawatta with my single vineyard, small batch wines.
The Karrawatta of today has evolved from a passion and desire to make our own wines from the three vineyards that we own and manage in the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. Our primary focus lies within the vineyard with minimal intervention in the winery. This approach allows our wines to reflect their sense of place, growing the best varieties suited to each region, low cropping levels, sensitive farming and conversion of our vineyards to organically farmed.
All our wines reflect our sense of style and class, exhibiting intense flavours, elegance, complexity and harmony.
The Aboriginal meaning of ‘Karrawatta’
Karrawatta translates to ‘Redgum Land’ and refers to the stretch of country north from Lobethal to the Torrens through Kersbrook, the valley of the South Para River, up to as far as Williamstown. It is also the name of the Peramangk local groups who went by the name – Karrawatta people.
Karra – Redgum
Watta – a person’s land or country
