Charlotte Varcoe
PATRICKS of Coonawarra’s cellar door celebrated two decades in the business recently with an intimate gathering.
First opening its doors in 2004, Patricks of Coonawarra was the lifelong dream of the late Patrick Tocaciu who was born in Mount Gambier/Berrin in 1953.
The estate had been growing since 1998 with the cellar door officially opening 20 years ago.
Patrick was known amongst the Limestone Coast community for his love of his friends, customers and wine after studying winemaking at university.
He graduated in 1975 and for the first 10 years of his career he worked as chief winemaker for Tollana in the Barossa Valley.
Patrick and his wife Jenny moved to Coonawarra in 1989 with their son Luke who is now the director and winemaker of the business.
Patrick first brought a patch of cabernet vines in 1989 before officially making the Patrick Home Block Cabernet in 1998.
Patrick passed away in 2013, with Luke soon taking over.
Speaking with SA Today, Luke said it was great to host the 20th anniversary of the cellar door and celebrate the milestone amongst friends and family.
“My dad was very passionate about the wine industry from a young age and really wanted to make his own stamp on the world and work towards the goal of owning, growing and making his own wine,” Luke said.
“He wanted a business where he could sell the produce of that at the end of the day so he was working towards that his whole life and in 1989 when we moved to Coonawarra and brought our first vineyard, from that point on we worked.”
He said although Patrick passed away nine years after opening he accomplished his dream of owning his own winery.
“Fortunately I was able to come back and work with him for a couple of years,” Luke said.
“So he was able to pass down some of that knowledge onto the next generation which is certainly something he was very proud of.”
Over the years, the winery had introduced a wide variety of wines and took the business to the next generation – something Luke said his father would have been proud of.
“We are very optimistic about what the future holds for us as we have got a lot of opportunities in the wine industry,” Luke said.
“It has been a challenging few years in the marketplace but things are looking a lot better for the next five years so if we can turn things around and really start to focus on what we do best and well then we will be happy.”
He said it was important to celebrate milestones such as this with many in the industry keeping busy during vintage.
“We have been madly picking and processing fruit every day so it is nice to actually stop and celebrate,” Luke said.
“It is great to be able to stop and remember where we started from and respect the history of the winery and just be proud that we are still going after that 20 year timeframe.”
“We would not be able to do this without the support of the rest of our family, especially my mum Jenny and my brother Matt in the vineyard.”
Speaking on the night, Jenny said as the winery hit 20 years and employed about 15 staff with a much larger range of wines, they had continued adding to the legacy her late husband left behind.
“Pat and his take on the winemaking business was already strong and Matt has joined the team in the last couple of years after training and working as a diesel mechanic and has become an invaluable part of our team,” Jenny said.
“I thank both the boys for all that they do, this group has been doing well and comes together, we have not achieved this on our own.
“We have had an amazing team of people behind us as well as customers and the wider community and we sincerely thank them for all these commitments to helping us get to where we are today.”
She said while she may not be here for the next 20 years she wished the business every success leading into the future and paid tribute to Patrick and his vision and passion to create the winery.
