Bondar Wines

Bondar wines began its life in March 2012, when Andre, Selina and a small group of their family and friends hand-picked a couple of tonnes of Shiraz grapes for their first ever wine. It was a beautiful, calm, warm summer's evening, and when the sun went down the McLaren Vale sky lit up with one of the most spectacularly beautiful sunsets any of us had ever seen. The Violet Hour Shiraz is named in its honour.

There is certainly no shortage of boutique wines in Australia, so the decision to start a new winery may seem somewhat irrational. For Andre and Selina, it stemmed from a desire to create. 

"I see it this way. Musicians, bands, It's not as though they look for "a gap in the market" that they can fill. Or think that it has all been done before, or there are enough bands and musicians out there already and so they therefore shouldn't bother. Winemakers are the same. Like artists, the driving force is the desire to create. To put our own stamp on something that we love. To create something beautiful, something that we will enjoy, and hopefully something that others will enjoy and value as well." Selina says. 

Then came the desire to have their own patch of land, to tend to their own fruit so they could influence the wine from beginning to end. In May 2013, this dream was realised with their purchase of the historical Rayner Vineyard in McLaren Vale. 

The story behind the name is a simple one, it's Andre and Selina's surname. And while it has been said that naming your wine brand with your surname is a marketing cop-out, for Andre and Selina it actually is a testament to the integrity behind the wines they make. "To use your surname means that your wines must stack up" says Andre. "I would never want to put my name on a bottle that I didn't believe in 100%". 

And funnily enough, the name Bondar actually has a strong connection with the winemaking game, being the Polish and Ukranian name for Cooper, or barrel-maker. The logo references this with