Tucked behind the Brokenback Ranges in the Hunter Valley is where you'll discover a charming little vineyard and Cellar Door that goes by the name of Greenway Wines.

Purchasing the property in 2009 Anne Greenway and John Marinovich slowly chipped away, fine tuning their perfect little pocket of land, opening the cellar door in 2017 and turning their humble dreams into a reality.  What greets you today is Greenway Wines' signature big red barn and bespoke vineyard, in what is a magical corner of Broke.

In partnership with Greenway Wines we're giving one lucky person and their 5 friends the opportunity to
Win a Luxury Picnic and Accommodation Experience in Broke.

It's only as you wind around the property's driveway and wander down the garden path does Greenway’s iconic big red barn come into view. A simple little tin shed when the couple purchased the property now stands loud and proud as Anne explains, 

“The design has been modelled after an ‘American barn’, which are traditionally ‘red’, you could say the barn told us it wanted to be red.  And then we embarked on a transformative renovation and ‘decorated the shed’ – inside and out in and created something special that celebrates the country style charm which can be found in Broke– it’s a really peaceful place to be, tucked away in the corner of our property.”

The agriculture theming of the barn has been taken out onto the courtyard with the planting of an orchard of some 30 fruit trees and post and rail fencing.

Having lived in Sydney for quite some time and an architect by trade, Anne continues to run her residential practice both on the northern beaches and in the Hunter Valley.  Dividing their time between the two places, this dual life allows Anne and John the luxury of having the very best of both worlds.

The transition from architect to vigneron was a considered one.

With the ‘road less travelled’ varietals that can be found in the vineyard at Greenway, the opportunity to focus on making ‘garage style’ wines, in small batches and limited runs excited Anne & John. Here was an opportunity to carve out a niche in the Hunter just for them.

At Greenway, design starts with the advent of pruning to design for different cropping styles, and the ongoing vineyard management, to ensure outcomes that suit the wine styles planned for the vintage to come.  And of course, a close partnership with their winemaker to guarantee the end result.  ‘The creativity in the vineyard and cellar door is only limited by one’s imagination!’ 

The experience of a visit to Greenway starts with how you are greeted at the cellar door.

As Anne came to understand that rather than just selling wine, a visit to Greenway had to be a wonderful wine experience, 

“The experience we are selling is our story, and our vineyard and our beautiful cellar door with its laid back relaxed vibe – and as such our wines seem to sell themselves.”

On visiting Greenway Wines, what you get is much more than just a wine tasting experience, guests can order one of the share antipasto platter, perhaps buy a bottle of wine, take a seat in the gardens around the barn, relax and just enjoy this beautiful area. 

When it comes to the grape varieties Anne takes us through the Greenway Wines grape journey, 

“When we bought the property, it was a ‘mostly merlot’ vineyard, with a thin sliver of Shiraz and Gewürztraminer grapes, and at that stage we were happy selling our fruit to other winemakers, but after a couple of harsh vintages in 2012 and 2013, we decided to graft in varieties that would service a cellar door."

“I never wanted to set Greenway Wines up to compete with the bigger vineyards, we wanted a point of difference and… one too many trips to Italy inspired a fondness for Italian varietals. Our journey unearthed Fiano and Pinot Grigio.”

"Fiano (palate-wise sits between a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc) loves our little vineyard and grows really well here so we’ve explored a few styles, and make a Methode traditionale champenoise style wine, a Sparkling called ‘bubbles’ which has been our best selling wine since we released it, a Still Fiano and a magnificent field blend of Fiano and Gewürztraminer that is extremely popular called ‘grace’.

The other grape planted was a Pinot Grigio. In my experience this is the perfect ‘designer’ variety – or maybe I just know too many architects who have a passion for it! It’s always been that alternate ‘Doc Martin’ wine for white wine drinkers. It’s like those in the know, know about Pinot Grigio [laughs].

"We have five grape varieties altogether and with this we can create a lot of wine styles from such a tiny vineyard, which is exciting.

“Our wines can only be found here, we don’t sell to restaurants or bottle shops.  At Greenway we produce around 750 cases in a year, and there are no plans to expand. That’s our philosophy, we want to play in the small ‘vineyard arena’ and carve a little niche out for ourselves."

‘I do just love it when our beautiful cellar door is ‘discovered’, as I know the magic in finding a boutique wine cellar at the end of an ambling country drive.   We’re very, very cute – a little red barn hiding out on the banks of Wollombi Brook, ever so proud of our ‘paddock to plate’ wine ethos’.

For those interested in becoming Greenway Wines regulars you must join their wine club, and reap the benefits of ‘members only’ pricing and invitations to Greenway Wines spectacular annual members events. 

“Our dream is to become a members-only vineyard, so we can open to members and their friends, grow on a referral basis and in turn become more of a micro-boutique vineyard which is the true category that we fit into. And in this way we can focus on members' events."

“Our long table vineyard luncheons sell out and we are looking to adding a few more to our calendar for 2023".

The Red Barn Cellar Door is open Friday – Saturday from 11am, bookings can be made online via their web site or phoning direct on 0418 164 382.