1882 & Now

Arthur Formby, the 2nd son of William who was married to Elsie Landseer, took over the management of Metala in 1890 and with his brother Fred purchased Metala from their father’ estate in 1894.Their partnership was dissolved in 1902. Under Arthur’s ownership the property grew to its present size of 2,700 acres. In 1891 Arthur planted the first vines on Metala, having been encouraged to do so by his brother-in-law Ronald Martin of Stonyfell fame. Ronald had married Elsie’s younger sister Hilda. The plantings consisted of 21 rows of Shiraz, 3.9 acres of which are still producing and 14 rows of Cabernet, 2.0 acres of which are still producing. A further 5.4 acres of Shiraz was planted in 1894 and all are still producing premium fruit. These old beauties, which are now known as the Old Blocks and the Cellar Block, are the daily reminder of our heritage, being located directly opposite the homestead.

From the late 1890s until 1910 Arthur Formby made his own wines in a cellar adjacent to these early plantings. Some of the old open fermenters are intact today. As well as his responsibilities of running the larger farm Arthur found attending to the winemaking a rather formidable task and so in 1910 came to an agreement with his brother-in-law Ronald Martin that saw Stonyfell take over the winemaking tasks. They continued to make wine from the Metala fruit on the property until 1955. At this time, owing to the difficulties of finding suitable hands and also the emergence of motor transport, it became simpler to truck the grapes to Stonyfell for processing. The cellar on Metala was closed and many of the red gum vats were transported to Stonyfell. These old cellar sheds still stand today and are now used for the storage of machinery, much of which is used in the vineyard.

Arthur & Elsie had 2 children; Myles & Mavis. Myles left Australia to pursue a career in England as an ENT specialist.

Mavis married Denys Butler and they together managed Metala until Denys died too soon in 1972. Their only daughter, Helen, had married Stuart Adams by this time and they lived at his property in Finniss. Helen then became heavily involved in the management of Metala and still retains an active role today. Guy, the 2nd son, stepped up and took over the full management of Metala on leaving school and from that time on the property and business has flourished.

Guy and his wife Liz have a clear vision for Brothers in Arms—to showcase what they believe the vineyards are capable of. With the construction of the winery in time for the 2002 vintage, the focus of the winemaking discipline is simple: balance, structure and texture. “by concentrating on these three key elements we find that all the other attributes revolving around fruit, oak, tannins, length of flavour, etc. fall into place” explains Guy.