Our Winery
Consider us your one-stop shop for premium winemaking, quality assurance and business guidance. In collaboration with you, we turn your grapes into packaged wine, ready for your customers to buy and enjoy.
PASSION FOR QUALITY
McLaren Vintners offers contract winemaking, analysis and business services with as much passion as purpose.
Since 2005, McLaren Vintners has partnered with wine brands to achieve excellence. The wines we produce for our partners have won over 160 trophies, a testament to our commitment to quality. We consider our customers family and take pride in our collaborative efforts. Our results give us every reason to raise a glass or two in celebration.
QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS
Guiding you every step of the way
We pride ourselves on developing great working partnerships with our customers, and our winery has been strategically designed to facilitate premium wine production. Each wine has a dedicated winemaker who tends to it throughout its journey, from grapes to bottling the final wine.
We are HACCP and SWA certified and Australian Certified Organic (ACO/NOP), and many of our analytical services are NATA accredited (Accreditation Number 17038). You are guaranteed quality management from grape to finished wine, including export certificates for finished products with reliable and quick results.
OUR TEAM
Led by multi-award-winning Ben Riggs, our talented teamwill help your wine shine.
BEN RIGGS
WINEMAKER
Ben Riggs’ winemaking career is influenced by industry trips abroad and at home getting to know the region that is his home, McLaren Vale.
In 1985, Ben graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College in Adelaide, what some call Australia’s Oxford of the wine world. Since then, Ben has clocked 52 vintages, 14 of which were spent at the helm of Wirra Wirra. After Wirra wirra. Ben left Wirra wirra to start his own brand Mr Riggs Wine Company as well as consulting to numerous local, interstate and international companies. Creating an opportunity to put it all under the one roof, McLaren Vintners was born.
ARMAND LACOMME
WINEMAKER
Armand Lacomme, a seasoned winemaker with nearly two decades of experience in oenology and viticulture, leads McLaren Vintners with a dedication to exceptional wine production.
A graduate of the University of Stellenbosch, Armand has worked in renowned vineyards in France and South Africa. His expertise includes directing winemaking operations, championing quality control, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Known for his self-motivation, dedication, and teamwork, Armand excels in challenging environments, making him an invaluable asset to McLaren Vintners.
TARA MADGETT
GENERAL MANAGER
Heading our finance and business operations is our General Manager, Tara Madgett, whose extensive experience in luxury retail abroad informs her strategic approach.
Returning to her roots in Willunga, residing in her family vineyard, Tara joined McLaren Vintners in 2016 following her tenure at the Adelaide Oval SMA.
Focusing on customer value, Tara emphasises our team’s passion and capabilities as key differentiators, ensuring McLaren Vintners stands out.
PROCESSING CAPABILITIES
Our diverse offering allows you to create your desired wine, be it organic, whole bunch pressed, five or 21 day fermentation, to a straightforward crush to finished wine.
Our experienced cellar team can produce the wine you want. We have the ability to manage temperature control with the click of a button, and when the wine is ready, we can directly feed your wine to our neighbouring Vinpac bottling hall.
From our inception in 2004, we have built a culture of passion, innovation and creativity for our customers, employees and suppliers. Over time, we have developed a solid foundation in which we continually evolve to provide the most innovative products and services. We pride ourselves on providing the flexibility and care you would find in the smallest winery.
Some of our processing cabilities are:
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Red Winemaking
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White Winemaking
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Fortification
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Stabilisation
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Filtration and Bulk Export
TANK AVAILABILITY
Every process is analysed, assessed and undertaken with expert efficiency from grape to bottling.
With stainless steel tanks from 1,500 litres to 90,000 litres, barrel halls catering for both warming and cooling, and crossflow filtration options, bag press, two-tonne open to 50-tonne fermenters, cooling and insulation on 80% of our tanks including automated temperature control systems.
Contact Us
Are you interested in learning how we can help you? We would love to hear from you, so please get in touch by completing the contact form below.
Renae Hirsch
Winemaker - February 2024
"I find the team at McLaren Vintners to be professional and flexible, they are efficient but also take care and the crew in the cellar are friendly, chatty and always helpful. They play a substantial role making the best wines we possibly can with the fruit we deliver to them. I also find the knowledge sharing with other winemakers- both in-house and with their other clients an invaluable part of working with McLaren Vintners."
Bec Swincer
Winemaker - March 2024
"McLaren Vintners are a friendly team with a positive 'can do' attitude that always strive for the best outcomes for their customers. They are professional, enthusiastic and show pride in working together to create fantastic wines."
Geoff Thompson
Winemaker - July 2024
"’Working with McLaren Vintners feels like an extension of our own business. We are given the access and capability to craft our wines from our fruit in the style we desire. It’s not one size fits all, with genuine small batch capacity through to large batch capacity available."
Matt Jackman
Winemaker - July 2024
"A cohesive and responsive winemaking team to work with. The relationship of McLaren Vintners staff with customers is collaborative, where they look to ensure our winemaking requests and production requirements are met in a timely and organised fashion."
FERMENTING FACILITIES
At McLaren Vintners, we work with you to develop the wine style you want to produce. Starting with fermentation, we offer a vast range of options.
We can press whole white bunches and crush and destem grapes. We have an enormous chilling capacity, which can chill 10,000 tonnes. We can manage cold soaks, cold stabilisation and cold storage. We can also warm wine, and we provide temperature control that is accurate and reliable.
We offer the flexibility to produce red wine in small batches using open fermenters, various sizes of rotary, or static fermenters. Our new tanks also serve as fermentation vessels, allowing us to accommodate extended fermentation periods to meet your specific needs.
