Bruce Tyrrell
Born 1951
4th Generation
In 1951, Murray Bruce Tyrrell is born and is the child of Murray and Ruth Tyrrell. Bruce was always interested in the business side of winemaking, and was the first member of the winemaking family to go to University, studying Agricultural Economics at the University of New England. He joined the family company on a full time basis in 1974 at the age of 23 years. It was during this time that Bruce fell in love with Semillon.
In 1989, Bruce put away the first quantity of Vat 1 Semillon. Seven years later, he released it to the public and it is this tradition that has continued over the years, providing the Vat 1 Semillon with a fair track record of show success. Bruce was responsible for creating Australia's first wine direct mail order system, bringing Tyrrell's wines to an entirely new market. Soon thereafter in 1966, a new cellar door was built and it remains virtually unchanged today.
In 1980, Jane Tyrrell, the first of the fifth generation of Tyrrell's is born. Her two younger brothers John and Chris are born in 1981 and 1982 respectively, ensuring the continuation of the Tyrrell name. In 1994, Bruce becomes CEO of Tyrrell's Wines with an annual production of 550,000 cases. Soon thereafter, Tyrrell's completes a series of interstate vineyard acquisitions to meet growth projections establishing new vineyards in McLaren Vale and Limestone Coast in South Australia, and Heathcote in Victoria. In 2006 Bruce Tyrrell was recognised with an Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to the Australian wine industry, improving grape quality, research, tourism and export opportunities. In 2009, he became a Hunter Valley Living Legend at the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Awards.