Kingston Estate was established by Nina and Steve Moularadellis, who started life in Greece and had both emigrated to Australia by the 1960s and met each other picking grapes in Riverland 1961. By 1965 Nina and Steve had bought their own land and the story of Kingston Estate began. The winery as we see it today was built in 1985 on the edge of the family estate next to their family home. Their son Bill was immersed in wine production his whole life and graduaed from Roseworthy with a winemaking degree the same year the winery was built on his parents’ estate. Bill has a wide range of experience within the wine industry, such as previously being a member of the Business Advisory Board to the Reserve Bank of Australia, Executive committee member of the South Australian Wine Industry Association and a Chairman and board member of the Riverland Wine Industry Development Council, as well as a non-executive board member of Wine Australia. His skilled winemaking and business judgement has safeguarded the winery from 1985 until current times.
They appreciated the steady growth during the 1980s and relished the success that came when Australian wine began to grow in popularity in their export market. Their distinctive style quickly resonated around the world, finding noteworthy early success in Canada and the UK. Unfortunately, Nina passed away in 2019 but Steve is still active, lending a hand whenever it is needed as Bill manages the winery and vineyards. Ivanka, Bill’s wife is heavily involved too, managing relationships of key export clients as well as their three daughters having their own enterprise within the family estate named “Mo Sister Vineyard”. It’s a real family affair.
Today the winery can be thought of as two wineries in one, the original and the modern extension. The original is where small batch parcels and their finest wines are created, which gives them ample flexibility and more control to achieve the desired style that fairly reflects the variety and their region. Not only this, their ability to produce a more commercial and high-volume product at the same standard, is helped by their state of art tanks and winemaking equipment, giving more appeal to the specific needs of their diverse global customers.
Kingston has multiple estates that offer them a range of terrain and soil to work with. Kingston Coonawarra for example, has a cool climate and infamously uses six different Cabernet Sauvignon clones to enhance the flavour diversity. In addition, Coonawarra is also home to Glenbrook, their coldest vineyard and therefore their last harvest of that vintage, exceptionally intense grapes are grown here. The infamous boutique ‘Mo Sister’ vineyard is in south Coonawarra specialises in Pinot Noir. Clare valley, one of South Australia’s premier wine areas, is located north of Adelaide and 8 kilometres east of Clare Township. It is burrowed amongst rolling hills and surrounded by old mature gum trees – truly beautiful. Kingston Mount Benson, neighbours Wright’s Bay and therefore enjoys a maritime climate that must be carefully regulated – a barrier of bushes and trees protects the vineyard here. The Terra Rossa soil coupled with the cooling breezes allow aromatic and spicy style to be produced. Also on the limestone coast is Kingston Sanctuary in the stunning Wrattonbully wine region north east of Coonawarra. This vineyard was innovatively built around an eco-wetland, diversity and the microclimate are significantly improved due to the native wildlife.
Lastly, the Limestone coast hosts the Paradox Estate founded in 1994 near the Southern Ocean coastline. Naturally a maritime climate with sandy loam soils over limestone, marked by dry summers and cool winters with dependable rainfall. Described as a ‘long gentle growing season’ the vineyard produces outstandingly powerful yet distinguished wines. In Riverland there is the Kingston Vineyard, the founding broad acre plot. Petit Verdot is the variety planted because of the hot and dry growing season and is the largest planting seen throughout the whole southern hemisphere. Also, in Riverland there are three vineyards all situated near the river Murray. Firstly, the Kingston Enigma; strong river breezes great for aerating the vines. The Kingston Paringa, the southern boundary lined with a seemingly endless display of tall poplar trees – high over the river, great aspect and home to single vineyard projects. Lastly Riverland hosts Kingston Kangara, the plot with richest soil and the most vigorous vines. In Central Victoria, Kingston the Lake lies on brown/red soil on limestone and planting of Durif is treated with class and is specifically prized by winemakers here. Lastly, Murray Darling’s Kingston Sunset; low yields due to shallow soils produce grapes of real intensity. Kingston Estate is one of the largest wine producers in Australia; their diverse and extensive portfolio is overwhelmingly impressive.
