Curtis Family Vineyards are established just west of the McLaren Vale township. Its vineyards have flourished and now its sought-after McLaren Vale wines are available on the Australian and export markets. Curtis Family Vineyards is about how everything old came new again, and how European immigrants came to Australia, struggled against the odds and then applied old world values and experience to produce fine wines. The new faces behind the Curtis Family Vineyards are Mark, Thomas and Jenna Curtis, with the guidance of their father Claudio Curtis who lives on the vineyard just outside of McLaren Vale.

Growing vines and making high-quality wines is in the Curtis family blood with a rich family history dating back centuries. Records show that the Curtis family name first appeared in Cervaro in 1471, a town established by the Latinium tribe in central Italy around the Second Century AD. Cervaro is situated approximately 10-kilometers south of the monastery town of Monte Cassino, the site of some of the bitterest fighting between the allied and German forces in Italy during World War II. In 1499, the Cardinal de Medici allocated Paolo Curtis the authority to administer the Papal lands in the area around Cervaro. Upon this rich soil, they established vineyards and olive groves which the family still farms today.

The Curtis Family Vineyards became one of the major wine-producing families, selling to large city merchants from Naples and Rome. The Second World War took its toll upon the winery and barrel storage buildings, with more destruction when the introduction of the Phylloxera grapevine louse badly damaged the vineyards. Some vines were replanted, and this is where the young Claudio Curtis first became involved in vineyards. Some of the replanted vines are still being harvested in the modern day.

The Curtis Family have been growing grapes and making wine in McLaren Vale since 1973. Today, Curtis Family Vineyards is concentrating on developing complex premium wines for the Australian market that show the winery’s passion for great McLaren Vale wines.