Gant & Co. was fated to be in the Vine Street portfolio. Back in the early 2000s, we were importing Matt Gant’s first Barossa-based line called, appropriately, First Drop Wines, which was established in partnership with John Restas. The wines could be thought of as serious wines in unserious packaging, with fun, quirky labels. The pair eventually went separate ways, and First Drop left our warehouses for good, but the Gant connection remained.

To get to the Gant & Co. inception in 2019 and the subsequent US début in 2022, we need to go back before the days of First Drop to… 1998. In this year, Claudia’s father, Graham Lloyd, planted a vineyard on Twenty Four Road in Karridale, the southern-most sub region of Margaret River, on the south west tip of Western Australia. Just 15km north of the cooling influence of the Southern Ocean, this idyllic site produces aromatic, fine lined whites and vibrant, elegant reds, and has been supplying grapes to some of the region’s top producers ever since. Claudia has worked on the vineyard since its establishment, whilst pursuing a winemaking career that has seen her work around Australia, as well as in the US, France and Portugal. Her journey took her away from the vineyard at times, but Margaret River was always in her heart, and it was never long before she would return to tend the vines where she felt happiest. And it was on one stint away, whilst working in the Barossa, that Claudia met her husband, Matt Gant. A fellow winemaker on his own vinous journey, Matt’s escapades have also taken him far and wide (throughout Australia, New Zealand, the US, Spain, Italy and Portugal), and saw him establish the internationally acclaimed First Drop Wines in the Barossa in 2004.