Bondar Wines

Rayner Vineyard, McLaren Vale, Australia

Rarely does such a new winery make such a fast and international splash. Bondar Wines came to life in 2013 when husband and wife duo Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly purchased the historic Rayner Vineyard at the southern tip of Blewitt Springs in McLaren Vale. In this warm region, as famous for its huge fruit bombs (we’re looking at you, Mollydooker) as for its legions of natty rebels doing the polar opposite, Andre brings to bear his deep appreciation for mid-weight wines of profound balance, wines that are fragrant and bright and complexly structured. Bondar wines exude self-possessed confidence, joyfully straddling the Goldilocks zone of weight and acidity too often obliterated by the pendulum swing of mercurial tastes.

“There must be a bit of magic behind Bondar. All of the wines have an ethereal quality.” Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

Andre Bondar has a hard-won pedigree. After finishing a post-graduate degree in winemaking, Andre did vintages at home and abroad, working in Oregon and California, at Tyrell’s in the Hunter Valley, and Padthaway Estate, Tintara and Mitolo in McLaren Vale before settling at Nepenthe for seven years (one of nearby Adelaide Hills’ first domains) where he climbed his way to head winemaker. In 2012, Andre left Nepenthe to acquaint himself with Syrah at its source, working at the wonderful Domaine Alain Graillotin in the Northern Rhône, a time Andre considers highly influential in honing his vision for terroir-driven wine farming in McLaren Vale. Meanwhile, Selina Kelly Bondar had been trained as a lawyer but left the desk job to join the world of wine in the marketing arm, working for Aussie estates like Yangarra, Hentley Farm, and Hickinbotham in the years before Bondar became a reality. If you want to know more about the characteristics of this area you can take a look at www.vinerra.com

In 2013 the Rayner Vineyard, considered one of McLaren Vale’s most precious sites, went up for sale. Bondar Wines was born. Since taking custody of this incredible site, the Bondar’s have been taking the fruit to a new level of brilliance. Through attentive farming, a focus on soil health, conversion to organics, and planting pest deterrent cover crops in the rows, the subsequent wines have demonstratively improved year after year to the point where both the Rayner Vineyard Shiraz and the Grenache have won best-in-their-category trophies at recent McLaren Vale wine shows.

In the last few years, medal after medal seemed to find their way to this estate while overseas onlookers kept asking, Who is Bondar? Finally, the attention and excitement reached us loud and clear here in Alberta. Our curiosity was piqued. Needless to say, our first taste of these wines confirmed our highest hopes. The accolades are well deserved! These wines floored us. So fresh, so vibrant, so complex, and just extremely well-built, simultaneously giving us that generous structure and fruit we expect from McLaren Vale but with this gentler, charming touch that gives the wines this electric hum. We hope you love them as much as we do.