At the heart of Peter Teakle Wines are stunning drops – and family. Ben Teakle is leading the next generation of winemakers at the Port Lincoln establishment.
Peter Teakle Wines may have only been established in 2016, but a passion for wine and winemaking has run through the Teakle family’s veins for generations.
Prior to establishing the Port Lincoln winery, the Teakle family owned and ran Collotype Labels for four generations.
Collotype Labels established the first water-proof wine label as well as labels for renowned brands like Penfolds and St Agnes Brandy.
It was during his time working for the company that TeakCorp managing director Ben Teakle first learnt the rules of the trade.
“I started in the reroll department which takes finished labels and slices them to be ready for an automatic labelling machine on a bottling line,” he said.
Twelve months later Ben began his apprenticeship in label printing on roll-fed offset lithographic machines, and finished the four-year apprenticeship in three years.
“Collotype was a well-run business with a fantastic culture of success and family values,” Ben said.
“As a young kid, the discipline required to operate a successful production operation was exactly what I needed and I am still grateful to the team of leaders who helped me along that early part of my journey.”
Ben took a year off to go backpacking after completing his apprenticeship and upon return completed an undergraduate degree in business at Flinders University.
After exploring the world, Ben was keen to live more permanently overseas somewhere, and he received the opportunity when he moved to South Africa to work in process improvement in the production team at Collotype Paarl.
“The diverse culture and love of wine and sport made it feel like a home away from home.”
After 12 months of living and working in South Africa, Ben returned to work inside the Teakle Group, and served on the board of Best Bottlers, a contract bottling company in Mildura, Victoria.
“This was a business started by my father and some titans of the wine industry like Ray King, who saw the opportunity to fill a gap the industry had – specialised bottling services,” he said. “This was another very well-run business that I was very privileged to be a part of.”
Ben chose a career in the wine industry having been fortunate enough to be a part of a multi-generational family business both in label printing at Collotype and now winemaking, viticulture, tourism and hospitality at Peter Teakle Wines.
“The long-term vision, combined with creativity, discipline and some storytelling is a really infectious environment to work in,” Ben said.
“Even with some of the challenges in the industry recently, it’s still great fun and everyone involved in it truly loves what they do.”
Peter Teakle Wines got its start in 2016 when Ben’s father, Peter, purchased the old Dellacolline vineyard.
“Dad jumped on the opportunity to finally bring his vision to life, and since then that’s what we have both been working towards,” Ben said.
The vineyard was planted by the previous owners from the early 1980s.
“It had won some wine awards for its riesling and sauvignon blanc so we knew there was some great potential,” Ben said.
“My father had a vision for the business that was developed from his entire life of working within the wine industry. He did an amazing job bringing that vision to life in Port Lincoln and I am determined to build on that vision with our team.”
In 2017, Peter Teakle Wines added Line & Label Restaurant – which has since become another Port Lincoln institution – while the winery was completed in early 2020, just in time for that year’s vintage.
The wine-barrel inspired Cellar Door was completed by the end of 2020 as Covid lockdowns ended and people were exploring more of their regional backyard.
Ben said one of the most unique things about the wine industry is how many families are involved in it.
“Whether it’s a husband-and-wife winemaker and viticulturist team or a multigenerational operation, there are families that have dedicated decades of love, time and effort into their respective businesses and brands.”
The biggest driver for Ben is getting the Peter Teakle Wines brand and the lower Eyre Peninsula region out there to the wider audience.
“We have a really unique area, great for cool climate wines which is the direction lots of consumers are heading these days.”
Ben said the wine industry is evolving, and it was important for Peter Teakle Wines to evolve with it.
“Some examples of that evolution are that people are drinking less, but generally higher quality wines than before,” he said.
“Lighter style wines are generally more popular than 20 years ago, and people care more about the values and environmental impact of a business.”
That care for the environment from within the industry has seen Ben and Peter Teakle Wines begin to revolutionise the winery’s practices, with a heavy focus on sustainability – the end-goal of the winery is being a net negative emitter of carbon by 2030.
“This will mean that our customers can feel good knowing that when they dine at our restaurant or visit our winery we are doing everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint and they are supporting those sustainable practices,” Ben added.
The winery recently installed a 100-kilowatt solar system to reduce its power grid consumption, and vastly increased its rainwater capacity.
“We have built 1.4 million litres of rainwater capacity on site to help reduce our need for mains water for irrigation and we also have an electric delivery vehicle for close wine deliveries.”
Ben said the biggest challenge was when you send products great distances, there was a larger carbon footprint.
“I believe as a primary producer it is our responsibility to look after the environment which is producing our product.”
He said there were real production and cost-saving benefits to implementing some of these carbon neutral strategies.
“One example is we improved our midrow management by planting 12 additional types of grains and flowers which improved the soil moisture retention and nitrogen levels, but also just so happens to reduce the overall carbon footprint,” Ben noted.
“We have over 200 fruit trees, an on site veggie patch and herb garden which means our guests get the freshest produce in the restaurant from both the land and the sea.
“Our solar project has a return on investment of about seven years, but also reduces the level of power consumption from the grid.”
As technology improves, Ben believed there would be more ways to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and also improve the bottom line of the business.
Whilst Peter Teakle Wines is evolving through its sustainability practices, it continues to grow in other areas also with new vines planted and offerings expanding.
“We have planted some pinot noir which we believe is perfectly suited to the maritime climate we have on the hill,” Ben said.
“We are expanding our tourism and hospitality offerings – we are doing more interactive ‘Meet the Maker’ style events – at the most recent, people were able to come into the winery during vintage and help do pump overs and plunge the wine.
“We love what we do and want to share that passion with our guests who I think will love what we do as well.”
