Our Dominic Team

And while he had an acute appreciation of their potential to become great South Australian wines, it wasn’t until he took over the business in the early 1990s that Dominic Wines moved from being an owner of vineyards to a company harbouring thoughts of producing its own wine.

The catalyst came in 2004 when Brian attended the London Wine Fair, where his passion to turn his grapes into his wines was further ignited. A crazy idea given his limited winemaking knowledge, he nonetheless tackled his new venture with vigour and was rewarded when the second vintage was released on the Swedish market. With generous praise from the nation’s wine critics, its success was assured.

Sixteen years on and with the help of a dedicated team at the company’s Berri headquarters, Brian can look back with satisfaction on a period of enormous growth, mainly in the Australian wine export market – and principally in China – to the point where Dominic Wines now exports over 15 million litres of bulk and private label wine to more than 15 countries each year.

Looking ahead down a road he describes as only half travelled and filled with opportunities, Brian identifies strengthening Dominic Wines’ local presence as a key goal, particularly in the populous eastern seaboard states of Australia; while at the same time exploring new international markets in New Zealand, Europe and Asia.

Despite the many successes, Brian remains very much a child of the land, finding great enjoyment in pottering around his vineyards on weekends and helping his wife tend to the family garden.

Linley holds a Bachelor of Science (Oenology) degree from South Australia’s esteemed Roseworthy College and cut his winemaking teeth at the legendary Australian Penfolds wine company that’s home to the world-famous Grange label.

The lure of international experience took him to Europe where, apart from attending to a vintage in Valencia, Spain, he spent three-and-a-half years as a winemaking consultant assisting with vintages in, among others, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Hungary.

A brief sojourn in Argentina followed, where he was responsible for three vintages in Mendosa, before returning home in 1998 to take up the position of winemaker at South Australian wine company Renmano in the Riverland town of Renmark.

Africa called when leading South African liquor company Distell selected Linley following its global search for a new winemaker. With his wife and three children, he spent the next eight years honing Distell’s wine brands before helping to establish the Alvi’s Drift brand and serving as its managing director for eight years.

Before returning to Australia in mid-2018 with a passion to lead Dominic Wines’ drive towards wine excellence, he indulged in another of his passions, adventure travel, taking a six-month overland journey with family travelling from South Africa to Tanzania.

The next chapter of the journey is in the fermentation process, creating quality red and white wines that, full of fruit and flavour when ready for drinking, are within financial reach of most people.

Michelle comes to Dominic Wines – she joined the team in October 2019 – with impeccable credentials having spent some two decades in the banking and financial sector with the likes of the Commonwealth Bank and Bank SA, as well as a period of about 10 years as a self-employed bookkeeper and business advisor while her three now teenage children were growing up.

A self-confessed lover of the Riverland and its people, Michelle describes herself as someone who moved to the area from Adelaide about 18 years ago and forgot to leave!

When not helping to keep customers and colleagues satisfied and resolving financial matters, she can be found in and around sporting environments…actively partaking in water skiing and hockey and supporting her sons’ cricket and footy exploits and her daughter’s hockey.

A member of the team since June 2016, Akshara brings to the company the personal touch of a career in the hospitality sector in her home country of India, where she worked in front office positions, as well as in a sales and marketing capacity, for the Accor Hotels group.

Akshara’s busy day is spent overseeing all domestic and international wine movements, liaising with wineries to secure requested samples, providing these to potential customers and once approved, attending to the orders.

She then works closely with finance to obtain the necessary credit checks before – in the case of international orders – seeing to all the Australian wine export paperwork and maintaining and updating the Dominic Wines stock sheets.

Beyond the busy office, she and her husband have spent much of their spare time since moving to Australia seven years ago exploring the local tourist destinations and familiarising themselves with their new home. Akshara also finds time to pursue other interests such as photography, painting, music and dance and her newfound love, expanding her cooking skills.

Her friendly and unflappable manner – kindled while growing up in the country and further honed during a career spent almost entirely in the Riverland’s primary industries sector – is immediately disarming and ideally suited to the demands of Dominic Wines’ bottling process.

Since joining the company in mid-2018, the Barmera born and bred resident has overseen the bottling of Dominic Wines’ own extensive range of South Australian wines for the domestic and international markets, as well as taking care of the increasing demand for bespoke private label wine.

These offerings are primarily aimed at the export market and involve a bottle label or brand created and produced by Dominic Wines exclusively for customers. The customer owns the label moving forward – and Louise ensures the drop never runs dry!

While a passionate Riverland devotee who always loves returning home, Louise nonetheless has the travel bug and enjoys discovering new places and meeting new people during her holidays. She is also an avid gardener, something that keeps her busy and content on weekends.