Loose End is the brainchild of renowned Barossa winemaker and personality, Rob Gibson of Barossavale. Each year since 2003, Gibson selects top fruit sources from the Barossa harvest to assemble a range of wines that is contemporary and truly reflective of the region’s character—Loose End.
Gibson has 34 years’ wine industry experience. Rob began his wine interest in New Zealand during a working holiday in 1974, working for Penfolds (New Zealand). He returned to Australia during the 1975 vintage and worked in the Penfolds Cellar as a crusher operator and assistant in the red wine fermentation area. In 1977 he moved to a technical assistant position in the laboratory. In 1979 he was offered a Penfolds Wines Traineeship to study winemaking and viticulture at Roseworthy College by the Management at that time, which included the legendary Max Schubert. He completed his winemaking studies between 1979 and 1981.
In 1981 and 1982 Rob worked as an assistant winemaker with John Duval and in late 1982, the then Chief Winemaker, Don Ditter, formulated a viticulture project aimed at selecting high quality Shiraz grapes for Grange Hermitage production. Over the period 1983 through to 1991 he worked both in winemaking and viticulture, developing new assessments and discovering new information about the production of the very best Shiraz. The systems established connected the vineyard block characteristics at veraison and again prior to harvest with the resultant wine characters and value of the vintage components. This led to the establishment of a Technical Viticulture Department in 1992, which Rob setup and led until my departure in late 1997 after 22 years to establish Gibson BarossaVale wines.
Gibson’s winemaking philosophy is focused on quality of fruit and management of soil and water. Loose End varietals and blends are expressive of Australian winegrowing traditions, accessible and over deliver on value.