THE Agnew family is carrying on the traditions of a Hunter Valley pioneering winemaking family - the Wilkinsons - by experimenting with new varieties and technology.
They bring a thirst for knowledge combined with big city know-how and a passion to leave behind a family legacy to a business that had moderate success as a cellar door, but is now making inroads in farm innovation, agritourism and marketing.
The patriarch of the family and Agnew Wines chairman, Brian Agnew, had his law firm, Moray and Agnew, and was a name in the Thoroughbred industry, breeding 1992 Melbourne Cup winner Subzero.
"Initially my father's desire was to maintain an agricultural enterprise," said Brian's son James, also a former lawyer and now general manager of Agnew Wines.
"He'd bred Thoroughbreds for 20 years and because we kids were not interested in horses, a vineyard was a natural fit.
"We were driving through wine country every time we visited Scone."
When the children, James, Jessica, a former banker, and Christopher, travelled north from Sydney to farewell the Thoroughbred property, their father, and mother Jodi, asked them to stop on the way at the Audrey Wilkinson cellar door.
All were taken in by the commanding views on arrival and Brian said he was thinking of buying it.
"Dad said 'we don't know a lot about the wine industry but we drink enough of it'," James said.
They bought some bottles - then bought the winery.
So began a symbiotic relationship as stewards of the vines for generations to come.
Their biggest asset was their dedicated staff of 26 full-time and about 50 at vintage, who had been "flipped from pillar to post and with a family on board, it was settling for them", Mr Agnew said.
"We really saw this as a good opportunity to build a family business and as a family business it allows us to make significant business decisions over a much longer time frame."
The family has made some brave decisions - on-property and off - following good industry advice.
With a strong cellar door presence, the family recognised the need to make better wine, improve the vineyard, set up accommodation and get into the wholesale business.
After a dalliance with a distribution company, the Agnews decided to take on the distribution themselves, with similar outlays.
Woolworths is now one of the company's biggest customers.
"It's a happy avenue for us but we're by no means reliant on them," Mr Agnew said.
"We're not as exposed as other companies.
"We have the ability to manage the brand in the field.
"We've got more of a corporate mentality to bring into it, being an ex-lawyer and banker."
As one of the little players in the wine business, they see the irony of operating out of the same Sydney building as the behemoth Casella Wines.
Yet they see parallels. Both companies see the need to diversify and have a premium brand to offer to market.
Agnew Wines exports to the US, Canada and Scandinavia, and China has shown interest in fits and spurts.
But the volumes are small and exports now make up seven per cent of turnover, an area Mr Agnew would like to boost.
Total volume of wine produced is vintage-dependent but the Agnews make 70,000 to 80,000 dozen bottles a year.
They have the capacity to do bigger numbers to maintain a solid domestic growth and step up exports.
As part of that expansion, Mr Agnew said they were always interested in a good vineyard property, particularly in South Australia.
The family has made other tough decisions on-farm but the benefits outweigh the outlay.
Ahead of their time, they ripped out underperforming vines ("cabernet sauvignon doesn't work in the Hunter"), took on the marketing themselves ("why hand it to a third party to run") and removed petrochemicals from the operation.
The family revisited blocks "with a very close eye" to improve the quality using French Bernard clones.
"We were pretty strict. 'Is it working?' we would ask, and we rejuvenated the land as we found other clones," Mr Ag-new said.
Vineyard manager Shaune Flynn said the Agnews thought outside the box.
They stopped undersowing every second row of vines with oats or barley, which they would turn into mulch, because it has been so dry for several years.
They have now switched to native grasses in the mid-rows to thicken the matting, and use mulch, such as mushroom compost, worm castings and an Australian Native Landscapes vineyard product, to maintain soil condition and moisture, and to keep weeds down.
"We're now seeing it more and more (mulching) in the valley," Mr Agnew said.
"We're lowering the impact of viticulture and looking at canopy management a bit more, such as leaf thinning and bunch thinning.
"We invested in a Wallaby mulch spreader to lay it on heavily.
"After vintage we let the vines step back and mulch at the end of winter, beginning of spring, timing it to coincide with the late winter rain.
"This year we couldn't have timed it better."
Mr Flynn said the vineyard had stopped using Roundup.
"We don't want to spray," he said. "We've got couch grass in the mid-row. It's terrible stuff. It looks great (on a lawn) but it grows up into the vines."
This means an awful lot of mowing between the rows and around the waterways for Mr Flynn's three staff.
"We're fairly well resourced with a John Deere tractor and other equipment," he said.