The People
Three unlikely characters combined at Cargo Road Wines to share an inspiration and build a future. Charles Lane, James Sweetapple and Brian Walters purchased the run down Cargo Road Vineyard in 1997. The vineyard at that time had been in existence for some 14 years - making it the oldest vineyard in the Orange Region - truly a progressive step by the previous owner.
Brian, Charles and James have spent the subsequent years adding to the vineyard and making it into a viable business. This has been achieved on several fronts, primarily through nurturing and maintaining the existing vines. This has been in the form of weed control, pruning, canopy management and a bit more weed control. It has also improved through increased plantings particularly Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Additionally, they are actively involved in the Orange Region community and host several art and sculpture exhibitions each year to coincide with the launch of their white and red ranges.
The Labels
The New Labels
The new style labels, appearing on our wines from 2004, were designed by Tanya Loviz.
Over the years Tanya has created many paintings inspired by the “OLD CARGO ROAD” that actually runs through the winery. It is a beautiful walk now, especially at sunset.
“The shadows of voluptuous classic cars and scrumptious wines, vines and damn good times, will boomerang me back continuously to paint this grand old winery.”
The Original Labels
The work of local artist Joy Engelman (www.joy.engelman.com) appears on the labels of our 1999 - 2003 vintages. Joy had long been a part of the vineyard and a friend of the group. Joy was inspired by the view from the balcony of the restaurant at the winery and completed several works capturing the natural landscape, crystal blue sky and undulating vineyard with the beautiful Oubang ranges in the distance.
We were inspired by Joy's work and saw it as truly representative of our approach to grape growing and wine making. The balance in her work reflects a path to the future, encapsulated in the 'road to Cargo', productivity and symmetry through the regulated and structured plantings of vines, and a harmony between the local birdlife and animals, and distant Oubangs.
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Two halves of one of Joy's works, depicting the view from the winery, appear on our wine labels (with the exception of the 2001 Zinfandel).
The left side of the work is on the red wine labels and the right side is on the white wine labels.
The original work hangs behind the counter in the cellar door tasting room.
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The distinctive label of the 2001 Zinfandel.
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The original work hangs in the cellar door tasting room.
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The logo is iconic. Strong in presence and easily identifiable and communicates with clarity the nature of the product. The reversed background provides a solid base and the shattered snowflakes interspersed whiteness leaning top right signifies growth. We are proud of it and it makes us feel good, and hope you can identify with it.
The slogan: "Cool Climate Wines With Altitude". It struck us that this play on words was symbolic to our business. Many thanks to Anto Sweetapple for creating it.
Mission Statement
Cargo Road Wines grow grapes that are intense in flavour and colour. From this, we strive to produce wines with good strong tannins that allow them to be enjoyed in the short to medium term. That is not to say that they won't last longer than that, but generally there will not be any significant improvement after that time period.
We care as much about growing our grapes as we do making our wines. We nurture our vines all year round, pruning carefully, managing the undergrowth and weeds, and harvesting the grapes at the optimum level of ripeness.
We grow grapes and make wine for people to enjoy. We care for the environment by carefully managing our use of the land and being selective with the nutrients we add to it. We enjoy what we do and aim to be highly regarded by our peers and customers alike.
All of us at Cargo Road Wines appreciate that all that we do is primarily determined by the climate we live in, with this in mind we carefully manage our use of the land and animals that reside here.
Cargo Road Wines uses 'best practice' management techniques to ensure that we are safe, reputable, profitable and can expect to be here for a long time.
