“ I Want To Create Something Timeless.”

Rathbone Wine Group Ceo Darren Rathbone Hopes His Family Business Will Stand The Test Of Time To Become One Of The World’s Great Wine Companies.

- Jodie Darlington

While many people don’t develop an appreciation for fine wine until they’re well into adulthood, Darren Rathbone has fond memories of enjoying small sips of his father’s wine as a child. “It was Dad who first got me interested in tasting wine. Often, on special occasions, when I was young, I would try a taste from his glass,” he recalls. “I can remember one Christmas Day when I was about 10 years old. After lunch, Dad opened a bottle of Grange. He poured me a small glass and I got to have a taste with him.”

Darren’s passion for wine was further fuelled in 1995, when his father Doug and uncle Graeme purchased a property in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, which they named Laura Barnes. After graduating from chemical engineering at Melbourne University, Darren happily got his hands dirty planting a vineyard on the land. “Dad asked me if I was interested in getting involved in the wine industry and starting a family business,” Darren says. “We saw Laura Barnes as too big to be a hobby, but too small to be a real business. Yering Station came on the market and had so much potential.” When the Rathbones took over in 1996, Yering Station was a dairy farm with a small vineyard and cellar door. However, Darren and his father knew it could be so much more, envisioning a must-visit tourist destination that would showcase both Yering Station’s wines and the Yarra Valley.

While Darren’s science background helped in the winemaking process, he also spent time in California studying oenology. “Chemical engineering is about taking a raw material and processing it to become a finished product. Winemaking is about taking grapes and turning them into wine. There is obviously an art to it, but it’s very much a chemical and biological process,” he explains.