A LOCAL film depicting the rich history of Coonawarra’s Leconfield Wines has been awarded bronze at the prestigious New York Television and Film Awards.
WineLine 2 – Odyssey, follows hot on the heels of Leconfield’s first film, WineLine – The Hamilton Story, which also achieved success.
The film tells the story of Dr Hamilton’s father Burton Hamilton and was created as a personal project and a way to tell the stories closest to him.
“The film is really delivered through my eyes following Burton’s footsteps as a young man born in a vineyard, through to adulthood, including his travels, work experiences, challenges and finally life as a vigneron and winemaker in Australia,” Dr Hamilton said.
Leconfield encompasses two of South Australia’s leading wine labels, both owned by the Hamilton family, Leconfield Wines at Coonawarra and Richard Hamilton Wines at McLaren Vale, located in two of the best wine making districts in Australia.
“I am extremely proud of our unique and strong wine industry heritage which dates back to 1837,” Dr Hamilton said.
“Our family has developed a distinguished international reputation for elegant and tasty wines and has also in the process with innovation, experimentation, and perseverance, helped to establish Australia as one of the world’s leading wine making countries.”
The development of the film has grown from the Hamilton family’s history in Australian wine making and Dr Hamilton’s desire to tell the story.
“My family were the pioneer winemakers in the colony of South Australia back in the early 1830s, decades before Australia had even become a federated nation,” Dr Hamilton said.
The film covers the Hamilton family’s journey and remarkable determination to create wine for enjoyment in what would have been, at times, incredibly challenging and confronting circumstances.
The Hamilton story also inherently highlights Australia’s journey as a nation growing, developing and evolving both socially and technologically.
“Making the film was quite an empowering and spiritual experience for me and helped me to understand just how hard my father’s life must have been,” Dr Hamilton said,
“I now feel that I know and understand him much better than I did as a young man.”
Judges for the New York Awards said they received entries from over 40 countries, which presented a strong competition.
“Leconfield Wine brand is based on a simple philosophy – great wines are crafted from great vineyards,” he said.
“It is this philosophy that has led to generations of success and several award-winning documentaries.”
