Salvatore Trimboli

Chief winemaker

So who is Salvatore Trimboli, known to his family and friends as ‘Sam’?

When he started after-school and weekend work in a Griffith winery, he wasn’t even old enough to drink wine but the 14-year-old Salvatore imbibed knowledge instead. ‘I listened to everything the older guys said in the winery, and I grew up with all the local growers. So I learned a lot about winemaking, but also viticulture, which is where every good wine starts.’

He left school at 16, took a part-time job in the winery, kept listening and learning, and was finally offered a full-time job as Cellar Hand. Salvatore worked his way up, eventually becoming Chief Winemaker, a position which he held at three other Riverina wineries before establishing Trimboli Family Wines in 2018.

Sam is still a resident in the Riverina, which gives him a huge advantage when buying grapes especially when his large, extended family are in the industry as well. ‘It’s a big family here, and most deals are done over a cold beer. If I can get my hands on the best grapes in town, then making great wine gets a whole lot easier.’ It’s even easier when you are actually related… one cousin has been growing Malbec locally and another grows Shiraz in South Australia’s Mt Lofty area.

Add in the Durif grape which Salvatore adores (‘it’s a stunning little powerhouse grape that develops astounding complexity’) and you have his first Trimboli Malbec Shiraz Durif. It’s a rich, darkly fruited style that is currently knocking the socks off UK and USA aficionados.

building strong and successful partnerships

Salvatore’s wines have been sold through Laithwaite’s for more than 30 years, and Laithwaite’s say: “Despite his quiet manner he's a master blender - with a remarkable knack for innovation. As well as introducing our hearts and palates to the blockbuster Durif grape, Sam has also done pioneering work with Montepulciano (the great grape of the Abruzzi) and is the man behind one of our most popular white wines. At last count, his trophy cabinet boasted more than 50 international medals and more than 500 Australian awards. Being a true homeboy though, we find it difficult to entice Sam away from his wife, two kids and winery to pick up many of these awards! But the awards keep coming, and his fantastic wines continue to go from strength to strength.”

some really proud moments and achievements

Salvatore’s Durif was the first in Australia to be awarded a Double Gold and Blue Gold at the Sydney International Wine Show in 1986. He celebrated by attaching DURIF number plates to his car, after his grateful employer gifted him the plates. And while the Hunter is normally the dominant region for Shiraz in NSW, a $14 wine produced by Salvatore in the state's south-west was in 2002 named ‘NSW Wine of the Year’.

The Shiraz from the 2000 vintage was chosen by a panel of 21 judges, who between them blind-tasted a record 635 wines from across NSW's wine regions. Nick Bulleid, chairman of the judging panel, said “the Riverina was now proving it could make "high quality reds" as well as outstanding "sweet whites". The politest way to put it is that there's been a greater concentration on quantity, not quality, in the Riverina region," said Mr Bulleid. "Now, companies with a sincere commitment to quality are making very high quality reds like this year's winner. And for a wine with a mid-range price to win an award like this is a real coup."

His Shiraz continued to kick major goals, making the top five finalists in the 2002 Great Australian Shiraz Competition, taking Gold at the 2003 Royal Melbourne Wine Show and Gold at the 2005 San Francisco International Wine Competition. And Salvatore kept on proving his point. Merlot is another favourite grape, and his wine won 'Best Merlot in the World' at the International Wine Challenge in London in 2006.

And he’s not called the ‘Medal-Laden Maestro’ without good reason. Salvatore has had two runners-up in Victoria’s famous Jimmy Watson Trophy (1966 Merlot and 1996 Cabernet).