My father, Pasquale, planted the vineyard in 1972, after I decided I wanted to be a winemaker. My late brother, Dominic, loved wine and winemaking. He ran the bottle shop at our family's supermarket, and it was his enthusiasm and my love of science that led to my becoming a winemaker.

The new winery was opened in 1982 and one of the wines made in that first year was Lillypilly Tramillon®, a unique blend of traminer and semillon. Picking of the second vintage commenced in February 1983, with traminer the first grape to be harvested. Later that afternoon, two massive hailstorms completely devastated the crop, and harvest of all varieties was abandoned for the year.

The climate is one of the strengths of the Riverina region, helping to make it an ideal wine grape region in Australia, and the main factor in making it one of the best producers of botrytis wines in the world. Lillypilly Estate currently produces four botrytis wines, along with a range of red and white wines including Tramillon® and Red Velvet®, which are both unique to our winery. But, as every farmer knows, each year is different and each year is a challenge as we try to produce the best crop while relying on our friend and enemy, the weather. Robert Fiumara (Winemaker)