Once upon a time,
everything was organic
Many years ago, a man named Kiriakos, took a chance on a little bit of knowledge and a big idea and planted grapes in his village of Messiani, Kozani – Greece.
This is where his son Terry learned to grow grapes; alongside his dad and with minimal grape growing knowledge. Village life was hard. There was little food and even less money, but still the grapes grew. World War II and the Greek civil war began and ended – Terry fought in both wars at an age too young to imagine – but still, the grapes grew. Peace settled over the village, Terry met his future wife: they married, and still, the grapes grew.
Terry and Kiriaki Carypidis migrated to Australia in 1953 to start new life. After the war, they didn’t have much of a future in Greece so they took the opportunity to leave when an opportunity arose.
They settled in Melbourne, Australia, and began working in any jobs they could to make ends meet; even if that meant double-shifts within factory walls and seeing each other more rarely than they ever had before. It was a hard time for the young migrant family but they had their sights locked on the future and knew leaving their family in Greece was the right decision.
Despite the trying times and although they had little in terms of money, there was always an abundance when it came to giving their time and love, and there was always food and wine to be shared. It was (and still is) the one joy in life – sitting around the table sharing a meal with family.
In 1969, they heard about a plot of fertile land for sale in Virginia, South Australia. For the second time in their lives, they chased an opportunity – this time, taking with them their young daughter Voula and two sons, Ken and Chris. Five years later, Terry and his boys planted the very first grapes on what is today affectionately called the “Home Block”; twenty acres of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, using the methods that Terry had seen and tended to at home in Greece.
A year after this, Ken (the eldest) took over the property, and in 1993 expanded the now brimming vineyard to span forty acres, and to include Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Petit Verdot, Pinot Grigio and Merlot.
In 1993, Chris joined the family business and with his older brother purchased another property, planting a further sixty acres of vines- including more of what they knew, and now Chardonnay, too.
In 2005, Ken discovered a gap in the market with organic wine. He branched off from the family grape-growing business, and began his wine company: Pure Vision.
After two years of successes, the brothers decided to convert each of their vineyards into organic. This was a three-year conversion process, and by 2009 they were producing only certified organic grapes.
Today, the farm is still managed by the two brothers who grow and sell their certified organic grapes to Australian wineries and to Pure Vision. Ken’s daughters – Jackie, Teresa and Natalie – are each an integral part of the business these days, too.
After all of this time, our family has learned a lot. We began this journey with an inexplicable ability to keep the grapes growing, and now we realise that this small task has the least to do with it all. The importance of family is present in every bottle of Pure Vision wine, and the commitment to working together to achieve excellent results and offer a high quality product, is at the heart of it all.