The Irish Australians - The humble beginnings of Glenkeen Wines
by Damon O'Brien on Aug 29, 2023
Two young lads
I was 11 years old and starting at a new school. The boy sitting next to me had an exercise book with D O’Brien written on it. I looked down at my own exercise book which also has D O’Brien written on it. Is this a trick?
Nervously I started with, "You have my name, is that a joke?’, pointing at his book. The boy next to me laughed confidently and quipped back "No, you have my name and I want it back!". Now I was really confused. "I’m David" he says, "David O’Brien". "I’m Damon, Damon O’Brien", I said, now completely frazzled. "Wow we must be related somehow", David says with a big smile as he slaps me on the back.
Little did I know, that this would be the first of many back slaps, and the start of a friendship that continued to be filled with laughs, quick wit and the feeling of somehow related comradery.
Fast forward...
42 years on, and I’m sitting around a camp fire with four mates, surrounded by lush farmland that supports sheep, alpacas and beautiful remnant corridors of wild coastal bushland.
"Remember that day back in grade 5? I can still see that look of confusion on your face, Damon", David says with glee. Here we are relaxing on Dave’s amazing Victorian coastal property, Glenkeen Estate reminiscing about how we met.
I will leave it with you, the reader to imagine the banter that ensued across the group of mates who all met in that fateful year as we parried back and forth, sharing stories, all while working our way through a couple of bottles of great wine, naturally.
Blessings and beginnings
Some of us are blessed to have mates who are as much family as friends. Myself and David are two of those - friends who have shared a lifetime of ups and down, weddings, the starting of families, the beginnings and developing of careers, and all the rest that goes along with growing through life.
At times we have lost contact as we were separated by the width of our continent, only to get together and act like we had been at the footy, cheering for our teams just moments prior.
The one conversation though, that we have maintained consistently for 30 years, is the dream to start a wine brand together.
and now...
Our dream has come a long way, but the real journey is only now just beginning.
Drawing on Damon’s extensive network of grape growers and winemakers right across Australia our first step is to bring to you our selection of tiny parcels of wine that we have selected from vineyards that we love; and that we have had made by winemakers who have won our respect.
Our plan is to begin planting a small vineyard on Glenkeen Estate of Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz which will be enhanced by hand selected parcels of fruit grown in the Geelong wine region.
Sometime, hopefully in the near future, we will open our Cellar Door and have the pleasure of welcoming you, dear reader, to experience not only the great wines we are planning but the beauty of Glenkeen Estate and our ‘country’ and home of the Surf Coast of Victoria.
More about the O'Bies:
Damon’s crew immigrated from Limerick in Western Ireland to Melbourne in the 1860’s. Over time the family settled in Ballarat, also Western Victoria and have been holidaying in Torquay, the centre of what is now the Surf Coast since at least the mid 1940s. Damon’s mother’s family have been publicans and wine people since their immigration from northern Germany again in the 1860s, and Damon has followed in their footsteps. High school work experience was in Melbourne’s premier retail group of the day that then led to a career in first fine wine retail both in Melbourne and Perth followed by Brand Manager roles in wine production businesses in Margaret River WA and the Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, the Clare Valley and Mt Benson in South Australia.