Our Story
Angove Family Winemakers is a proud South Australian wine company with a rich history dating back to 1886 when Dr William Thomas Angove arrived in the fledgling settlement from Cornwall, England with his wife and young family to establish a medical practice.
It was not long after his arrival that Dr Angove began experimenting with vines, winemaking and distilling in the area and his initial plantings in the township of Tea Tree Gully in the Adelaide foothills was the forerunner to the immense success the family has achieved so far, creating some of the most significant vineyards in the southern hemisphere.
The Angove winery initially produced red wines, which were eventually supplemented with dry white wines along with sherry and port styles. The production of table and fortified wines grew when Dr Angove’s eldest son, Thomas “Skipper” Angove built a distillery and processing house at Renmark in 1910.
The arrival of Thomas William Carlyon Angove, Skippers son and grandson of founder Dr Angove, in 1947 as Managing Director heralded a new era of development. Storage capacity stood at 15 million litres of wine and new crushing facilities and a modern winery helped Angove Family Winemakers to develop their premium wine production.
In 1983 the fourth generation of the family took control when John Carlyon Angove succeeded his father as Managing Director of the company. John has driven significant development and investment in all aspects of the business. The Nanya Vineyard has undergone substantial redevelopment and the company has purchased an historic vineyard in McLaren Vale, now called “The Medhyk Vineyard”. Medhyk is Cornish for “Doctor” and the vineyard commemorate’s the company’s founder. At the winery at Renmark, increased storage facilities and a state of the art bottling line have been installed on the Angove Estate. John’s focus on sales and marketing led to the development of an Australian based sales force servicing the domestic trade and expansion of Angove exports to over 30 different countries around the world.
Celebrating the company’s 125th birthday and 100 years of winemaking at Renmark, South Australia in 2011, Angove is renowned as one of Australia’s largest privately owned wine companies with its continued success drawing on the pioneering spirit of Dr Angove over 100 years ago.
Meet the Family