Our Story

The Manser family’s interest in wine dates back to a deal made in the late 60s with the publican of the Renmark Hotel.  After a beer and a handshake, Bernie Manser relieved him of some so-called dead stock and drove off with a trailer load of booze, axles straining under the weight of Hardys, Pirramimma and D’Arenberg reds, and the odd bottle of Grange.

This treasure-trove was consumed with relish at many a BBQ and dinner party during the 70s and 80s and, when Bernie’s sons Phil and Kevin came of age, it gave them a taste for classic Australian red wine.

Phil was first to pursue a career in the wine industry, working in independent retail and wholesale, before supporting small and medium winemakers to tell their stories online and connect with wine lovers. Along the journey, Phil worked in vineyards across the southern vales to get hands-on experience and develop his passion for the industry.

Also bitten by the wine bug, in 2015 Kevin purchased the Corydon vineyard in the Southern Adelaide Hills.  A labour of love created by Tim James, former chief winemaker at Hardys and General Manager at Wirra Wirra, the property had a magnificent view of Kuitpo Forest and a 16-acre shiraz vineyard which had been feeding some of Hardys’ top tier award-winning wines.

The Manser family had found their new home and a chance to realise their dream of making uncompromisingly top-quality red wine.

Manser Family Wines was born.

 

  • Phil Manser

    VIGNERON

    Phil's career in wine has been a mix of independent retail in the early 90s, to working and studying in the UK knocking over the first two hurdles to the Master of Wine. After returning to Australia, he worked for Baily and Baily and then began a lengthy stint in wholesale championing a long list of small, independently owned wineries. He has also worked as cellar hand, picker, pruner and a bunch of other inglorious roles, all to keep his feet firmly on the ground and convey a greater appreciation of what happens before wine makes it to your glass.

  • Bernie Manser

    PROFESSIONALLY RETIRED / OPERATIONS MANAGER

    Bernie is a country boy at heart, raised on his parents’ dairy farm in Mt Gambier he soon realised the value of hard work (and early mornings). After graduating from high school, he came to Adelaide to study accounting and by the time he graduated had met his future wife Evelyn and took the adventurous step of starting his own practise instead of taking the more secure job on offer at the Tax Department. In the early days establishing his business Bernie embarked on several trips to the southeast and Riverland where he befriended many of the pioneers of the wine industry in the 60s and 70s. He’s always maintained a strong link to the industry right to retirement at the ripe old age of 56!

    At age 78 his two of his sons, Kevin and Phil dragged his arse out of retirement to oversee the running of the family vineyard where you’ll find him most days… he’s a pretty handy bookkeeper too!

  • Phil Christiansen

    WINEMAKER

    Despite no formal qualification in wine science, Phil’s love of wine and winemaking led him to produce his first barrel of wine in the back yard of Hardy’s Tintara in 1996, where he went on to become Master Cellarman.

    Since then, and with vastly more experience and accolades under his belt, Phil and wife Lauren have developed a purpose built small batch winery on their 2 acre property in McLaren Vale, primarily working with quality small batch producers. Phil’s philosophy in winemaking is a non-interventionist approach with the wine predominately made in the vineyard, his job being to nurture it from vine to bottle. We love his philosophy of wine making and look forward to a long association.

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