The story behind the gate


“Our mission is to make some of Australia’s best cool climate wines at modest prices. Quality is guaranteed at every step of the process, from the moment the grapes are picked off the vine to being delivered to our customer. For us, being a family-run business that focuses on connecting with our customers is the core of what we do & why we do it.”

Meet our winemaker Josef.

Josef Orbach has been making wine for over 25 years. His unparalleled passion for wine began at Leasingham in the Clare Valley, South Australia, where he was a member of the team that won the 1995 Jimmy Watson Trophy.

Since then, he has been finessing his craft and has gone on to graduate with a Postgraduate Degree in Wine technology and Viticulture from The University of Melbourne in 2010.

Some of his greatest accomplishments include winning a Bronze medal in the 2018 London International Wine Competition for his 2017 Pinot Noir from Adelaide Hills.

Josef’s wine label Side Gate consistently appears in James Halliday’s Wine Companion with a 4-star winery rating and wines often scoring 90+ points.

“Whilst it is often said that great wines emanate from the ‘terroir’, my winemaking philosophy is all about personal expression and style. It’s all about how best to hold high the ‘hero’ which is the specific grape variety.” 

 

About Side Gate

Side Gate Wines was established after founder Josef Orbach decided to pursue a career based on his unparalleled passion for wine. With grapes specifically sourced from vineyards from all around Australia, Side Gate Wines has made a name for itself from selling some of the countries most beautiful white and reds at competitive and reasonable prices.

A family-run business operating out of the vibrant suburb of Collingwood ensures that quality is guaranteed at every step of the process, resulting in the best wines possible, matched with excellent customer service.

The story behind the name

The Broken Gate wine label was created by Josef Orbach in 2004. It came about through a friendship Josef had back in the seventies, with a sheep farmer named Mick. Mick and Josef traversed the vast farm paddocks hunting rabbits and wild ducks in Mick's ute, as a passenger Josef was often asked to jump out and open, or close the farm gates. It turned out that the majority of the farm gates on Mick's property were difficult to open and were often dragged across the dirt driveway.

Many of these gates were in a dilapidated state, some cobbled together with twisted wire and rusty iron sheets. This physical tear and wear gave the fence character, for Josef, it shed light on the farmers that used them, and particularly the time they spent moving about the land. Josef figured that every farm in Australia must have at least one broken gate, and this spawned the wine label (and obsession) that was Broken Gate.

It was at wine show in Singapore in 2009 that Josef met a wise old Chinese importer who commented, “your wines are excellent but you must fix the gate”. "What are you talking about?" asked Josef. The sage went onto to explain that the Broken Gate label was bad Feng Shui, he said that broken things are not well received, particularly by Asian consumers. On the return flight from Singapore, Josef doodled the words Side Gate on a paper serviette and drew the heritage style gate that adorns the label to this day. Fixed at last and re-birthed as Side Gate.