The Homestead
You will find “Borambola Homestead” on the Sturt Highway, 25 kilometres east of Wagga Wagga in the Riverina district of NSW. A majestic and gracious home dating back to the 1880s, it stands high on a hill looking out over the rolling Snowy Mountain foothills in one direction and the rich plains of the Murrumbidgee in the other. Borambola has a colourful history: it was built by George Macleay, son of Alexander Macleay, the then Colonial Secretary who built Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney. It was host to King Edward VII when, as Prince of Wales, he visited Australia in 1920.

Borambola reached its high point in the 1880s when it was the centre of a pastoral empire of about 1.4 million hectares, owned by John Donnelly. Borambola then passed through several hands and was finally purchased by F.W. Hughes, a famous figure on the Australian financial scene. He used the property to breed horses, including Hiraji, the 1947 Melbourne Cup Winner. In 1992 Borambola became the McMullen family home.

The property, with its gray sandy loam soil, is now set on 70 hectares with an elevation of 180 metres
and the homestead is surrounded by 12 hectares of
vineyard. Though set in the Riverina, the vineyard
is categorised in the Gundagai growing region.

The Vineyard
The dream for a vineyard emerged soon after the McMullen family settled into the Borambola homestead in 1992. The rich red soil of the 6 acre (2.7 hectares) paddock on the western side of the house was full of promise, there was a year-round water supply from the creek and good annual rainfall in this district bordering the foothills of the Great Dividing Range .

Preparing for and planting those first 26 rows of vines was slow and labour-intensive, relying largely on the hard work and goodwill of family members and friends. It was a steep but valuable learning curve.

The Expansion of the Vineyard
Encouraged by the success of our first vintage of Chardonnay, we moved on to stage two: Borambola red wines. It seemed like exponential growth, but in 1998 we expanded the vineyard to the equally verdant eastern and northern paddocks, planting 25 acres (11.3 hectares) of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Wine Makers

Chris Derrez & Lucy Maddox

French born “flying winemaker” Christophe Derrez and Roseworthy trained winemaker, Lucy Maddox combine old world traditions with new world techniques and equipment to craft wines of quality and regional expression.

Chris, whose career started at home in Burgundy in the family enterprise and took him across Europe, Africa and Australia, is passionate about producing wines that demonstrate the best of the grapes origin.  Chemist and Oenologist Lucy compliment the team with her scientific background and winemaking experience in Australia, Bordeaux, California and Switzerland.

Chris and Lucy met at Western Range Wines in Western Australia and travelled and worked together in Tunisia and Switzerland before settling in Orange NSW. 

Chris & Lucy started Madrez Wine Services in 2002 (10 days after the birth of The Winemaker’s Daughter, Lila) initially offering contact bottling and packaging services.  In December 2005 Madrez Wine Services expanded to also provide quality contract winemaking.  Madrez made wines have won numerous trophies and medals.

Borambola Management Team

Tom Robertson and Judy Boyton make up the Borambola vineyard management team. Both Tom & Judy have lived and worked in Gundagai / Wagga Wagga district for most of their lives and have a wealth of viticulture knowledge.

Tom experiences stems from initially establishing & working in his own vineyard near Gundagai since 1993 and the establishment of 120 acres of vines over four other properties in the Gundagai GI (Geographical Indicator) region.  As the vines matured he moved into contract harvesting and pre-pruning as a service to the industry.

Judy studied horticulture at CSU (1994-2002) graduating with honors and distinction. She began working in the wine industry in 1995 helping to establish new vineyards. At present is employed as the Technical Assistant at Gundagai Vineyards (a 200 ha vineyard near Nangus) and assists Tom in operating the contract harvesting & pre-pruning business.

Together they are finding a new challenge in being involved in a vineyard venture which markets its own wine and has a cellar door outlet. They’re vast combined knowledge has seen the streamlining of operations at Borambola Wines striving to produce top quality fruit.