A Brief History of Organic One Wines
Jure and Eva Bonic, immigrated to Australia from their native homeland of Croatia in 1960. They were following their passion to find the ideal environment to make highest quality organic wine.
Jure Bonic explored most of southeast region of Australia in search of the richest soil and optimal climate to grow his organic grape vines.
When he came across, Jerilderie, a small outback town about 600 kms southwest of Sydney, mostly known for the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly, our father immediately noticed the potential of the region.
In the Jerilderie area the grasses grew extremely well and the cattle that grazed on the land were healthy and vibrant. He also noticed that all the vegetables he tasted were sweeter and more flavoursome than normal. All very good signs that this pristine environment could yield healthy organic wine crops.
With long sunny days, dry climate and rich soil Jure found what he believed the ideal conditions to grow his grapes. In 1970 the Bonic family settled on over 340 acres of virgin soil along the slow, meandering banks of Billabong Creek near Jerilderie. Jure Bonic commenced commercial production of organic wine. He produced wine rich in flavour and vibrancy, indicating that higher alcohol levels could now be obtained with natural methods in Australia.
The Bonic family were pioneers in organic farming practices and organic winemaking methods. This was in the time when chemical farming was becoming popular for economic reasons. The Bonic family chose natural farming methods over the popular chemical methods as a way to produce sustainable crops that produced exceptional wine.
What we know now, but didn’t know then, was that the Bonic family were ahead of their time.
