Our Story
Two Victorians with a passion for good food and wine, we chased our dream and moved from inner-city Melbourne to Barossa Valley, an area that we fell in love with many years prior. The wines we make come from the fruit that we grow and are made in the style that we enjoy drinking.
Our approach in the vineyard is to grow the best possible fruit that we can, making our lives in the winery as easy as possible. Barossa is home to the oldest vineyards in the world, and we’re lucky enough to have a block that is 80 years old. With vineyards dating back to the 1840’s, viticulture can be an extremely sustainable agricultural enterprise and we endeavour to look after our vines, soil, and ecosystem as best we can. We stopped using glyphosate herbicide back in 2019, only using an organic spot spray for invasive weeds when required.
In the winery we have a straightforward approach – ferment, mature, bottle. Texture is important to Lloyd, so incorporating whole berry, whole bunch and oak contact throughout the ferment and maturation process is important. Malo-Lactic Fermentation helps to create a rounder mouthfeel along with tannin, oak and acid balance. Layered and textural, we want the wines to taste like the vineyard they came from.
We manage two vineyards, our Home Block (Shiraz) and the Gipson Block next-door (Shiraz & Grenache). Starting with one Shiraz, we now have a range of five wines, still exclusively produced from our two vineyard blocks and varietals.
Since squishing the first grapes in 2017 and officially launching in 2020, we’re excited with what we have done so far, and where we’re going. The last five years have been full of challenges and milestones, and the next five will be even more challenging with greater milestones to come.
Why Genista?
The ‘genista’ flower (Latin: ‘planta genista’) is commonly known as the ‘Broom’ plant because it was used to make brooms for sweeping. Broom is Lloyd’s family name.
Growing up, Lloyd and his family would discuss their heritage and background, and always felt a strong connection to ‘genista’. For a laugh they would refer to themselves as the Genistas joking that it sounded fancier than the ‘Brooms‘.
While no direct link has been found, it’s fun to think of the Plantagenet Dynasty (1154 – 1485) who wore sprigs of broom in their helmets and ruled over prosperous wine growing regions of France.
Meet the Genista Clan
Lloyd Broom
Vigneron • Winemaker
Buying, building and moving interstate with Sarah in 2015, Lloyd changed industry from selling wine in retail to making wine as a cellar hand. The first vintage and subsequent years have been exciting and challenging, with every day bringing something new.
You can hear the passion in Lloyd's voice when he talks about his vines and now, his wines. He looks forward to forging ahead with his own brand, Genista Wines, over the coming years.
Sarah Gregory
Marketing
Admittedly Sarah thought Lloyd was crazy when he first suggested moving to the Barossa Valley. Nowadays she could not imagine living anywhere else.
By day, Sarah is a Marketing Director at a global EdTech company which takes her all around the world. She is usually behind the camera lens, capturing every moment of this adventure!
Ella
Vineyard Cat (Senior)
This little kitty can often be found prowling in the vineyard. She loves to walk through the vines with her humans and is often spotted climbing atop of the posts or practising her vine tightrope walking skills during winter.
Tabitha "Tabsy"
VINEYARD CAT (Junior)
In October 2020 we welcomed a furry new addition to the Genista family. We adopted Tabitha from the local Barossa Wildlife Rescue (BWR). She is cheeky, squeaky and wants to be friends with everyone, humans and animals alike!
Willow & Poppy
THE DUCKS
For Lloyd's birthday, he said he wanted duck - Sarah thought he meant for dinner! Instead we returned home with two very alive Muscovy ducks from BWR. The girls enjoy swimming in their pond, snacking on snails and mowing the grass.