Photo exhibition reveals a year in the life of Grange

Wine photographer Milton Wordley was packing away his photos of Grange creator Max Schubert at a South Australian arts festival four years ago when he had an idea.

"I'd always wanted to do an exhibition on the Australian wine industry," Wordley says.

"I thought, why don't I just do it on Grange? Grange is our most famous wine, its first vintage was the year I was born, and I'd photographed Max Schubert a number of times, so I had photographs of him which not many other people actually had."

After taking the first photo of his new series within the first few days of 2012, Wordley spent the year documenting the production of Australia's most reputable wine.

"I did occupational health and safety for two days and then I had access to all the Penfold's vineyards and wineries," he says.

"I was able to just call Peter [Gago, the chief winemaker of Penfolds Grange] or any of the guys and say: 'What are you doing today or tomorrow? I'd like to go and photograph it.'"

The result was a book: A Year in the Life of Grange, which has now been turned into an exhibition.

The publication - an "old-fashioned photo essay", as Wordley terms it - tells the story of the 2012 vintage, however it also explores the history of Grange, beginning with the work of Max Schubert and the long unsung hero of Australian wine, chemist Ray Beckwith, whose research into pH control at Penfolds protected Grange from microbiological spoilage.

Wordley already had photographs of Schubert but when writer Philip White joined the project he insisted they contact Beckwith.

"[White] said ... 'Ray's 100 and, you know, he may not be with us any more.'"

While Beckwith was interviewed and photographed for the book, he passed away before its completion. The book is dedicated to both Schubert's and Beckwith's families.

After its release in October 2013, A Year in the Life of Grange won the best photography category in the international Gourmand Wine Books Awards.

Like Grange, copies of the self-published book are 100 per cent made in Australia, and they do not come cheap.

At $785, the limited edition is the least expensive. A winemaker's edition ($1000) and a collector's edition ($4000) are also for sale.

The book has also been turned into a photography exhibition at Malvern's Eleven40 gallery, running from February 3 to February 28.

The photos - all of which are free of any post-production work - reveal an approach to making wine hardly touched by modern techniques.

"What I found fascinating was that this is the biggest, and probably the most famous wine company in Australia, and at Magill [winery] they're still doing it the way that Max [Schubert] did 60 years ago," Wordley says.

"They're the same open fermenters, they're the same cellars. Peter Gago and his other winemakers go out and test the grapes, decide which rows they want to be picked when, and those small batches of fruit go straight down to Magill."

One of the most striking images in the collection is of a bottle of Grange against the New York skyline.

"I wanted to show this wine being a wine of the world," he says.

Wordley also met Grange collectors in the US, ranging from dermatologists to heavy metal singers, and was even able to sample most vintages at a tasting in New York.

So after managing to taste every vintage of Grange throughout the project, which is Wordley's favourite?

"It sounds a bit wine-wankerish, but I did like the '53. My favourite was a 1976 I shared with my family a few years ago," he says.

"And the 2008 I tried a little while ago is as good of a Grange as I've ever tried."

A Year in the Life of Grange, Eleven40 gallery, 1140 Malvern Road, Malvern, until February 28.