Established in 1858 by English immigrant Edward Tyrrell, Tyrrell’s Wines is one of Australia’s pre-eminent family owned wine companies. Headed up by fourth generation family member Bruce Tyrrell, Tyrrell’s is home to some of Australia’s most awarded wines including the iconic Vat 1 Semillon. Since 1971, Tyrrell’s has been awarded over 5,000 trophies and medals and in 2010 was named “Winery of the Year” in James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion.
As the first member of the winemaking family to go to University, studying Agricultural Economics at the University of New England, Bruce was always interested in the business side of winemaking. He joined the family company on a full-time basis at the age of 23 years, during which time Bruce fell in love with semillon. By 1989, Bruce put away the first quantity of Vat 1 Semillon. Seven years later it was released and started the tradition of Tyrrell’s best Hunter Semillon coming to market with bottle age; with an unsurpassed record in the wine shows.
In 2006, Bruce Tyrrell was recognised with an Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to the Australian wine industry; improving grape quality, research, tourism and export opportunities. In 2009, he became a Hunter Valley Living Legend at the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Awards.
Bruce is a presenter at the ‘Mythbusting - Australia’s regions, sites, innovations, quality, diversity and characters’ business session.
