Built for the Ages | The Petersons Wines Story
- Liane Morris
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
Some wineries are built for the moment. Petersons Wines was built for the ages.
Established on a former dairy property in Mount View in 1971, when a young Colin Peterson and his father Ian planted ten acres of Semillon vines on volcanic basalt soils, Petersons has spent more than five decades quietly doing what the Hunter Valley's most enduring producers do best - making wine of uncompromising quality, staying true to its people, and resisting every temptation to be something it is not. Now, with Colin's daughter, Savannah, stepping into a formal leadership role across the family portfolio (which includes Petersons Wines, Savannah Estate, Blaxland Inn, Pokolbin Cider House, Peterson House, Restaurant Cuvee, and Ben Ean), the story of Petersons Wines is entering one of its most compelling chapters yet.
"The first principle of Petersons Wines was a choice of quality over quantity," says Colin, who has been involved in and has led the business alongside his dad, Ian Peterson, from the beginning, watched it grow to encompass more than 30 grape varieties across New South Wales and a team of more than 250 people, and in 2024 was named a Hunter Valley Living Legend by the wine industry. It’s an honour that few would argue with. "We made the choice not to be big, to remain small and focus on providing the best possible quality."
It is a philosophy that traces back to the very beginning. Ian Peterson, a pharmacist by training, made his first wines in 1981 after an industry-wide Semillon surplus prompted the family to stop selling fruit and start making their own. Two wines, a Chardonnay and a Shiraz, were produced in a small new winery, and the first release earned the family their first medal. The cellar door at Mount View opened that same October, and Petersons has been welcoming visitors to its hilltop home ever since.
Central to the story, perhaps as central as the family itself, is Chief Winemaker Gary Reed, who arrived as a young cellar hand to help Ian with those first vintages and has never left. More than 40 years on, Reed's presence at Petersons is the kind of continuity that money cannot manufacture.
"I let Gary have full reign over the winery," Colin says simply. It is a partnership built on mutual trust and a shared understanding of what the Petersons’ style means: elegant whites, full-bodied age-worthy reds, and an absolute refusal to chase trends.
Nowhere is that philosophy more eloquently expressed than in the Back Block Shiraz, the winery's flagship wine and one of the Hunter Valley's most quietly revered bottles. After separating out individual blocks for the 10th-anniversary vintage in 1991, the family noticed that fruit from the back blocks had lower yields and more intense flavour. They followed that instinct, and the Back Block Shiraz was born, rooted in limestone soil, distinct from other Hunter Valley expressions of the variety, and built to age. The 1991 vintage, following an extreme drought, remains the stuff of legend.
"It was the best vintage in 40 years," Colin recalls. "The drought produced intense flavours." At up to $200 a bottle, it is a wine that speaks for itself.
Into this legacy steps Savannah Peterson, third-generation winemaker, General Manager of the family portfolio, and a woman who grew up with a glass of full-bodied red in hand before most of her peers had graduated to anything beyond soft drinks. Her formation as a winemaker was as hands-on as it gets. Winemaker Gary Reed taught her early that cleanliness in the winery was nonnegotiable. "When I was little, I was only allowed to clean the outside of tanks," she recalls, "because, as he'd say, 'If it's dirty on the outside, imagine what it's like on the inside. To this day, I genuinely believe we have one of the most pristine wineries in the Hunter Valley, and I'm incredibly proud of that."
Savannah’s commitment to the Peterson family's founding values is unambiguous. "I never want to lose our family ethos. Our wines will always remain premium and boutique, and our hospitality will always be warm, friendly, and fun. I want customers and members to leave feeling like they've just shared an afternoon drink with friends." And, with characteristic directness: "I'll never let wine wank ruin what we do."
That spirit of genuine, unpretentious hospitality is something visitors feel the moment they walk into the Mount View cellar door, a property that, as Savannah notes, still feels much as it did in the 1980s, and is all the better for it.
"When people walk into our cellar doors, our staff will acknowledge them immediately," says Colin. "We don't talk too much about the wine; we let the wine do the talking for us."
Among the weightier responsibilities Savannah has had to navigate recently is the sale of the Ben Ean estate to make way for a landmark luxury resort development. The estate, co-owned by the McGuigan family, is managed by Savannah and showcases the wines of both families. “Personally, it’s been quite emotional because I still live on the Ben Ean property, so I watch the developments happening every single day. But in many ways, life hasn’t changed dramatically because we’re still operating the business from Ben Ean.”
And she is genuinely excited about what it means for the region. "The Hunter has deserved a premium luxury accommodation offering for a long time, and I'm really proud that visitors to our little piece of heaven on earth will finally experience that."
With Colin now looking toward a gradual step back, Petersons is navigating that rarest of transitions: change that feels completely natural. A number of the winery's longest-serving staff - some with 20 to 30 years at the family's side - are themselves approaching retirement, working alongside a newer generation to pass on the knowledge and standards that have defined the business for decades. The Petersons Wines Hunter Valley cellar doors are open seven days a week. The Mount View cellar door, perched on a hilltop with sweeping views of Mount Sugarloaf and the Watagan Mountains, is the spiritual home of the Petersons' story. The Broke Road cellar door in the heart of Pokolbin offers its own charm, and at either address, the experience is the same: unpretentious, warm and rooted in five decades of getting it right. Visit Petersons Wines at 552 Mount View Road, Mount View, or online at www.petersons.com.au.
