As the human face of wine, it’s hard to underestimate the value of family when so much of today’s wine is in the hands of the faceless global corporation. It can also be a powerful brand in its own right. ‘Family ownership guarantees a patient and long-term outlook, much needed in the wine industry’, says Spain’s Miguel Torrres. With Antinori and Mouton Rothschild, Torres is a member of Primum Familiae Vini, a high-powered family association sharing their vision of wine. 10 of Italy’s Valpolicella families have recently gone down a similar route and New Zealand Family of Twelve, based on a the idea of 12 wines to a case, have embraced one another with the aim of flexing their combined muscle.

Yalumba's Pewsey Vale vineyards

There can be a downside too. One of France’s chronic problems has been the succession, with property so endlessly divided that it becomes impossibly fragmented. The dysfunctional side of the family was recently demonstrated by the débâcle in which paterfamilias Robert Mondavi found himself having to sell the family company so painstakingly built up over decades because his sons fell out, just as their father had done with his brother Peter in the 1960s. With no accountability to shareholders, families can play their cards close to their chests and drag their heels, but for Miguel Torres ‘ a stock market flotation would be a deadly sin – that would send us to hell; that's when you become short-termist’.

Steve Webber of de Bortoli

In the light of an industry under fire for falling exports and an industrial wine image it was only a matter of time before Australia put its best family foot forward. To show that their wines are creations of personality is the aim behind Australia's First Families of Wine. With a fifth of Australia’s wine sales, the ‘Dirty Dozen’ are: Brown Brothers, Campbells, Tahbilk (Victoria), d’Arenberg, Henschke, Jim Barry, Taylors, Yalumba (South Australia), De Bortoli, McWilliam’s, Tyrrell’s (New South Wales) and Howard Park (Western Australia). According to Stephen Henschke, one of Australia’s best producers, ‘we all are proud of our family heritage and our icon vineyards and wines. We are the ones who can provide succession to the next generation whilst the ‘multicorps’ go into meltdown’.

Renowned for their Hunter semillon, Tyrrells’ 2002 Vat 1 Semillon, around £21.99, Fortnum and Mason, Corks Out, Larners of Holt, is highly distinctive and full of intense buttered toast and lime citrus characters. From Goulburn in Victoria, Tahbilk’s 2007 Marsanne, £8.99 - £9.99, Booths, Sainsbury’s, is a pungent dry white with herbal undertones and a poised, rich, but stylishly dry lemon and lime tang. From Henschke, the aromatic, elegantly zesty 2006 Julius, £14.95 - £16, winedirect.co.uk, slurp.co.uk, Laithwaites, is one of the purest styles of Aussie dry riesling available.
Tyrrells' Hunter Valley vineyards

McLaren Vale’s D’Arenberg is known for its plethora of good value, quality wines and quirky labels, and its 2006 D’Arry’s Original Shiraz Grenache, £8.99 - £12.99, Co-Op, Bibendum , Oddbins , is a model of intense, peppery blackberry fruit with a sophisticated savouriness to it. No Australian family group worthy of the name could omit Barossa’s Yalumba, whose 2005 The Signature, around £24.70, Jeroboams, Harrods, Free Run Juice, Hoults, is a classic Barossa blend of leafy cabernet, smoky oak and concentrated dark fruits richness, neatly framed by oak. Let’s leave it to Campbells to end on a sweet note, in the form of the viscously rich, toffee and raisin-imbued Campbells Rutherglen Muscat, £9.50 – 9.99, half-bottle, Waitrose, Oddbins, Adnams. Anthonyrosewine.com.

Something For the Weekend 16 January 2010

Under a Fiver

2008 Les Crouzes, Vieilles Vignes Carignan

Made from old vines of the south of France’s workhorse carignan grape, this is a delightfully vibrant scented red, gushing with juicy blackberry fruitiness. £3.99, down from £4.99, until 19 January, larger Co-operative and Somerfield stores.

Under a Tenner

2008 Whirlpool Reach Pinot Noir, Tasmania,

From Tasmania pioneer Andrew Pirie, this delicate pinot noir from Tamar Ridge is raspberryishly fragrant with a silky texture and freshness of berry fruit akin to a good red Burgundy like Savigny-lès-Beaune. £9.99, or £7.99 by the case, Oddbins.

Splash Out

2005 Barbaresco Cru Montestefano, Rivella Serafino, Piedmont

With a seductive perfume of incense and roses, this is classic nebbiolo, full of sour cherry and rose-petal infused flavours, and tightly bound in a muscular structure of fine tannins and savoury acidity. £36, Berry Bros & Rudd.