Three minutes with Dandelion Vineyards founder Elena Brooks
Since moving from Bulgaria to Adelaide to study oenology at the age of 19, Dandelion Vineyards winemaker and founder Elena Brooks has become a sensation of the global wine industry.
BEN: What do you love about this time of year at Dandelion Vineyards?
ELENA: One thing I love about this time of year at The Wonder Room is our view across McLaren Vale to the coast, all laid out in front of you, with beautiful weather. A visit to the Wonder Room can be educational through our guided tastings, or people can just grab a bottle of wine and sit on the lawn with a picnic basket. Everyone can find what they’re looking for. It’s very pretty.
BEN: Is there anything about you personally that is reflected in the wines you make?
ELENA: My philosophy is to place emphasis on the value of things in your life, not the quantity. Being European by descent and being from a culture where wine is always part of the meal, the wines I make are medium bodied, but not heavy. They’re not in your face, they’re quite elegant and somewhat pretty. Elegant and sophisticated.
BEN What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?
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ELENA: When I was 12, I was given two pieces of advice by my grandmother, and I still live by them. The first one is that a wise person pulls out of an argument first, because most arguments are not worthwhile fighting in the heat of the moment. The second is that if someone is offering you a gift, take it. Meaning, quite often people want to give you something as a gesture of appreciation and we often turn it down because we’re too polite to accept it.
BEN: When we visit the Wonder Room, which of your wines is a ‘must try’?
ELENA: There’s one wine that philosophically shapes what we stand for, and it’s a wine we made back in our first vintage of 2007. It’s a unique blend of shiraz co-fermented with riesling, and it is absolutely exquisite. It’s an old blend that was done in the 1950s in Australia, and which we have modernised for the modern palate … to go with an amazing dish. It’s very French in style, and very pretty and sophisticated. It’s called the Lion’s Tooth of McLaren Vale Shiraz Riesling.
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BEN: What has been your greatest challenge, and greatest success?
ELENA: I arrived in this country 25 years ago with $802 in my pocket, and now I have Dandelion Vineyards, the amazing Wonder Room and about 25 employees. And my beautiful family, with my husband Zar Brooks. Where I am right now in all aspects of my life is my greatest achievement. The challenge has been putting my immediate family on the backburner trying to build a little empire, and that’s hard. I mean, I have my mum, my dad and my cousin all working here together at Dandelion, but I wish I had a half a day every week to just sit around the table and do nothing other than just talk with them. That’s something I want to work towards.
BEN: When you are drinking something other than Dandelion, what is it most likely to be?
ELENA: I love trying the wines of local winemakers with the winemakers, because I love hearing their stories about them.
BEN: What are the three things you love most about McLaren Vale?
ELENA: Wherever I am, I just need to be close to the water and I’m so happy to live by the coast. Secondly, it’s the people. I was a newcomer who made McLaren Vale my home and everyone was just so welcoming. It made it so easy for me. And number three, I love the climate. As a winemaker, you could not ask for a better climate. The region just produces the best wines, and it’s also the largest sustainable wine-growing region in the world.
This story was first published in the December 2024 edition of SALIFE Magazine.
