Peter Flewellyn, a native of South Australia’s Riverland wine region, grew up on a vineyard embracing the lifestyle of a family grape growing business. Following in the footsteps of his three predecessors, he pursued a career in the wine industry enhancing early family vineyard and winemaking experiences by studying at Roseworthy Agricultural College in Adelaide. Before and during his studies, he gained valuable insights and experience at Berri Estates, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest winery, where he honed his skills in a large and efficient operation.

Upon completing his studies in 1992, Peter was offered a position on a joint venture winemaking team between Penfolds, Hugh Ryman and Hincesti winery in Moldova. After successfully completing a challenging vintage in Moldova, Peter returned to the Barossa Valley to work the vintage under Stuart Blackwell at St. Halletts in Tanunda. Upon the completion of the Barossa vintage, Peter returned to Moldova for a second vintage via the trans-Siberian railway and subsequently joined the Hugh Ryman winemaking team on a full-time basis.

Over the next eight years, Peter served as a “Flying Winemaker,” travelling between the southern and northern hemispheres for vintages each year. He relocated to various bases in Europe, Eastern Europe, South American and South Africa. Peter was promoted within the company to Chief Winemaker and Production Manager, based in the company’s Bordeaux office. From there, he oversaw winemaking and production operations for the company’s international operations, travelling frequently to winery partners around the globe while hosting buyers, journalists and customers and making frequent market visits for sales and marketing activities.

During his tenure as a flying winemaker, based in various wine-producing regions globally, including France (Bordeaux, Loire Valley, Provence, Corsica, Languedoc-Roussillon, Spain (Conca de Barbera, Rueda, Carignana, Penedes), Argentina (Mendoza), South Africa (Stellenbosch, Oilfants River)), Peter acquired extensive experience and expertise in both winemaking techniques and a diverse range of grape varieties.

In 2000, Peter returned to Australia to assist in the planning, and development of a new winery and restaurant business in Geelong, Victoria. Accepting the position of Winemaker, Peter played a pivotal role in the design, construction, and fit-out of the Pettavel winery complex in Waurn Ponds. Peter’s role also included setting up domestic distribution channels and drawing on his contacts to expand the export markets of the Pettavel brands around the world. The state-of-the-art winery, designed to minimise handling and preserve natural grape flavours, showcased modern winemaking technology and produced several award-winning wines during Peter’s tenure as winemaker. 

In 2012, Peter relocated to the McLaren Vale wine region in South Australia to further refine the development of the Vinous Australis portfolio. The Vinous Australis head office is now situated in Willunga South, on the Angustum vineyard, where our vineyards, situated on the Willunga Escarpment, thrive in a unique century-old quartzite-based soil. In addition to our Angustum vineyard and Peter’s family vineyards in the Riverland of South Australia, Vinous Australis collaborates closely with several family-owned and managed vineyards to produce a diverse range of wines that showcase the distinctive characteristics of each vineyard from which they are sourced. 

The Vinous Australis portfolio continues to expand as further partnerships are formed with dedicated grape growers across the South Australian. The meticulously crafted wines are marketed with our personalised identity as we work to distribute our pride to consumers around the globe.