About Us

Our Story

My parents discovered Margaret River in the early eighties and it became their favourite part of Australia. By the late 90s Dad fell in love with our vineyard featuring plantings dating back to 1978;

Cabernet Sauvignon (1978 & 1982)
Shiraz (1978)
Sauvignon Blanc (1987)

The vineyard appealed deeply to our family’s roots and it was a natural extension of our passion for agriculture and wine.

Since purchasing the estate, we have increased the vine plantings and developed great relationships with local producers who have been creating award winning wines with our fruit.

Something that has given us great pleasure is writing little notes and message on our bottles meaningful to us, and for you, wherever we can.

You will find beautiful handwritten notes that Mum and Dad wrote to one another on some of our select wine labels - it’s just a taste of what makes our wine unique and bespoke.

Our Philosophy

I joined the family business over a decade ago to fulfil a dream to create our own family label.

Our vision was to utilise the balance of Margaret River with its rugged terrain and temperate climate. This we termed “UMAMU”, a palindrome inspired by Balance & Contentment. Balance & Contentment has firmly become the philosophy of everything we do at UMAMU.

Everything we do at UMAMU is about balance - our ecosystem, environment, enjoyment of life and our work.

As I started to appreciate the importance of ‘work/life balance’, I sought for our brand to be something the consumer can engage with. I wanted people to have an association and conversation around our wine, as they reflect on their life journey, giving rise to Balance & Contentment within themselves – and inspiring it in others.

I realised from the outset the importance of carefully managing the vines so that they are in balance, so the rest of the wine journey can then flow naturally. This includes how we manage and refine our trellis and canopies, the choice of French oak barrels to pair with our fruit so that neither outweighs the other and our striving for a balanced palate.

We aspire for our wines to drink well on their own but also to pair with food, with prongs to the fifth flavour of food known as Umami.

Our Brand

Stylistically our wines express and respect what the land provides, are elegant and have the ability to develop and age.

Our philosophy has always been to give our wines time to age in the bottle before release, a rarity in today’s market. Enjoying wines when they are ready to drink, rather than straight after bottling, is how my palate was exposed when I was growing up, so I naturally adopted this for our wines

We currently have two labels, our UMAMU label and our Hallmark range which features a red seal to express their utmost quality.

2005 was our first vintage and the first wines we released were our Hallmark Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, Cabernet Merlot and Shiraz. As Chardonnay is what originally brought my parents to Margaret River, it was a must to produce!

Sauvignon Blanc Semillon is a renowned Margaret River blend learnt from Bordeaux, our Cabernet Merlot is inspired by our dear friend Aunty May of Chateau Pichon Longeville and our Shiraz is a cooler climate, more elegant style.

Over the last few years, we have focused more on the Australian market, participating in more consumer events, which we have thoroughly enjoyed, and having our UMAMU wines served on Qantas First and Business Class in 2013-14 and 2016-17 has been one of the highlights to date.

May our exquisite vintage wines, hand crafted from our family vineyard established in 1978, enrich the celebration of your life.

Charmaine & Team UMAMU

Timeline

1982 - Family started visiting WA

1997 - Bought Vineyard & grew fruit for years

2005 - First vintage

2007 - Went to market

Our Wines

The vineyard is fine-tuned over the season to optimise the fruit quality for its intended wine style. We aim to harvest physiologically ripe fruit, considering the balance between perfumes, colours, tannins, flavours, acids and sugar maturity.

The winemaking seeks to understand the strengths of the fruit and work synergistically with them, striving to make wines which have a sense of style reflecting mainly the site and season, with our background signature on style.

A blend of French oak barrels provide texture to the wines without dominating the flavour or structure.

Our Vines

Our vineyard with vines first planted in 1978, is located 10km east from Margaret River. White varieties grown include Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay. Red varieties grown include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz. Vines are planted along North to South, thus are East West facing. The vineyard is comprised of different blocks, each with its own character and traits and thus managed as separate entities. Our vineyard is viewed as an ecosystem which includes the vines, soils, cover crops, insects, micro flora and native fauna which inhabit the area

We believe that healthy balanced grapevines, managed for the desired wine styles should always yield high quality fruit. Attaining this balance in the vine requires that the ecosystem be in harmony and we work to achieve this in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner.