Peter Forrestal, co-editor of the Wine Magazine, described the Benedictine Abbey Shiraz 1998 as light in body and made as an early drinking style showing a lovely honest fruit nose and a palate of gentle macerated cherry and red berry flavours.

Benedictine Abbey Chenin 2004 shows some remarkably cool climate characteristics given its geographic origin and is essentially a fresh crisp and very approachable wine with pleasant flavours of pear and green apple, finishing with clean soft acid.

After an absence of nearly 30 years New Norcia has again become involved in the production of wine. On a beautiful day in May, the merry month, the monks of New Norcia celebrated the launch of Benedictine Abbey Shiraz 1998 and Benedictine Abbey Chenin.
Benedictine Abbey Wines can be purchased at both the New Norcia Hotel and the New Norcia Museum Shop. Shiraz sells for $29.90 and Chenin for $19.90. The wines are also available by mail order and delivery can be arranged anywhere in Australia.  Order Form
As with the resurrection of New Norcia's bread and olive industries, the monks re-involvement with wine has come about as a result of a providential connection with the right person, Nick Humphrey. Nick, a Perth optometrist, has operated Bindoon Estate for 15 years and over the last few years has sold a steadily increasing percentage of his annual production to New Norcia. Not that the monks are drinking more - they drink in moderation as Holy Father Benedict urged - but there is an increasing tourist trade at the New Norcia Hotel. The idea of re-introducing the Benedictine Abbey label naturally emerged.

Both the Benedictine Abbey Shiraz and Benedictine Abbey Chenin are made from grapes grown at Nick's Bindoon Estate located some 50 kilometres south of New Norcia. The fruit is transported to Alkoomi Wines at Frankland River where it is made into wine by winemaker Michael Stamford. The Benedictine Abbey wines are the only ones made exclusively from Nick's fruit. Once bottled it travels to New Norcia where is is matured in the ancient cool wine cellars under the monastery.

From Peter Forrestal's comments at the launch of the Benedictine Abbey wines, New Norcia has another product it can be very proud of. The co-editor of The Wine Magazine described the Shiraz as light in body and made as an early drinking style showing, a lovely honest fruit nose and a palate of gentle macerated cherry and red berry flavours. Of the Chenin he said it shows some remarkably cool climate characteristics given its geographic origin and is essentially a fresh, crisp and very approachable wine with pleasant flavours of peach and green apple, finishing with clean, soft acid. Peter dubbed both wines most accessible which seemed a very important thing to be, at least for the monastic food and wine writers present.

While our Holy Father Benedict wrote in his Rule that wine was not a drink for monks, he also admitted that he could not convince the monks of his own time of this truth, and down the ages monks have continued to be associated with alcohol, especially with its production.

At New Norcia vines were one of the first things planted by Rosendo Salvado. His original hectare under vine increased to 4 hectares by the mid-1870s. In 1875 he returned with cuttings from Spain to improve the vineyards at New Norcia. However, his experimental plantings at Wyening, a property the Community owned some 50 kilometres away, yielded better results. His successor Bishop Torres concentrated his efforts at Wyening and in 1909 there were 40 acres of vineyard. The grapes were crushed and pressed on site and the 8,000-9,000 gallons of juice taken to New Norcia for fermenting. At that time the wine was not only used at the Monastery but sold locally mainly to farmers and Italian workers who were in large numbers in the district working in clearing gangs.

Wine production increased and became more professional with the building of a stone winery at Wyening from 1914-1916. In 1916, 80 acres were now under vines and in 1917 the first non-monastic vigneron was employed a Spaniard named Valenz. Benedictine Abbey Wines enjoyed their golden era with the employment of Gustel Schwarzbach, an Austrian who had lived on a vineyard estate in Slovenia. He was recruited from the Northam Migrant Camp in 1949. A colourful character, Mr Schwarzbach was winemaker at Wyening for almost 25 years and produced a full range of wines: table wines, fortified, sacramental and even spirits.

With Mr Schwarzbach's advancing years and a rising salinity problem it was decided to close the vineyard and winery. The last vintage was bottled in 1973, most of the casks were sold and the equipment moved to New Norcia.

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