Our Story
The start of Little So & So Wine Co.
In any case, knowing they had the skill set and contacts, it was only a matter of time before Adam got his way and convinced Marty to embark on the new wine venture, Little SO & SO Wine Co.
Why the business name?
• The Little refers to the fact they only choose to make quality small batch wines while maintaining their day jobs to keep food on the table!
• The SO & SO refers to and incorporates the Smith and O’Flaherty names, in duplicate, to include respective partners Lisa & Sarah
• Guess that Wine Co. speaks for itself.
The beginning...
Adam Smith, Viticulturist & Marty O'Flaherty, Winemaker
They do say opposites attract and maybe this holds true when it comes to business partners as well! At least let’s hope so for the sake of "Precious Little" anyway.
Marty and Adam’s friendship began some time ago when they were both working for wine entities based in McLaren Vale in South Australia and met when paired together at a Corporate Golf day. Shortly after they played cricket against each other and have been mates who have shared a friendly and sledge-filled rivalry ever since
& Precious Little Wine...
The Precious Little label has been named for several reasons. Firstly it is the precious nature of the grapes selected each vintage. The best fruit is chosen and in small quantities making the resulting wine precious. Secondly, from past experiences, when things go wrong, and taps get left on in the winery, the amount of wine that is left can also be Precious Little!
Hopefully, the rest becomes history as we embark upon our journey of making small-batch wines from the unique little parcels of fruit we find and are granted access to each vintage.
We hope you can relate to our story and would like to try one of our unique
Precious Little Wines.
The Smiths & O'Flahertys
More about Marty ...
Precious Little Winemaker
I was born and raised in the sleepy little hollow of Hamilton in the Western District of Victoria. Many haze-filled years were spent loitering on the perpetual search for my soul. This included being a Uni drop out (first time around), a labourer and almost a decade working as a chef. The journey was almost complete…well at least in part, because I always knew I wanted to be a winemaker when I grew up! Exposure to some really cool wines while toiling for the uniquely charismatic Stefano di Pieri in his famous cantina, had me hooked. Soon I had packed away my knives, ceremoniously torched my chef whites and embarked upon my quest. I was lucky to land a position at the newly formed Zilzie Wines in Karadoc, Victoria, and worked my way through the ranks to a winemaker, while completing my Winemaking degree at CSU.
I then set about enriching my skill set with a large-scale vintage at Lindemans at Karadoc in Victoria, followed by vintage in the prestigious Barolo region in Piedmont, Italy working for Dr Aldo Vajra. On my return from Italy, a three-year stint as winemaker at Ballast Stone in South Australia, allowed me to craft wines from Currency Creek and more notably McLaren Vale. I then gleefully accepted the role of RockBare winemaker, which I enjoyed for eight years. In this position, I made wines from McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra and Adelaide Hills.
As they say "when one door closes another door opens" and as luck would have it, when I finished at RockBare on the other side of the said "new door" was my ex-boss Sam Atkins and his wife Ra who offered me the role as winemaker for their brands Atkins Family Winemakers and then Fox Gordon. I still very much enjoy my role there and am fortunate to have their blessing, understanding, encouragement and inspiration to allow me to work on this Precious Little project.
As the eternal search goes on, it is important to make the most of the journey anyway. I feel there’s a little bit of my soul in each Precious Little parcel of wine I make. Maybe inadvertently the search is over, but hopefully, the journey continues for a long time yet! - Marty O'Flaherty
More about Adam...
Precious Little Viticulturist
I grew up on a small lifestyle property between Clare and Sevenhill in the picturesque Clare Valley wine region in South Australia. My father was mainly an apiarist who also had a small planting of grapes to provide income during the winter months. I swore as a youngster that I would never end up working with vineyards after spending many a cold winter day pruning and rod tying. After completing high school, I was accepted into university to study a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Management. On completion of my degree, I returned to Clare in the hope of taking over the world as a recently qualified environmental manager. I was fortunate to get a job with IAMA (now called Landmark) as a graduate viticulturist where I remained for three years. Keen to expand my horizons and gain more experience I decided to leave the beautiful Clare Valley and in late 2001 I took up a position with Southcorp Wines (Treasury Wine Estates) as a grower liaison officer in McLaren Vale, South Australia.
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I completed eight fantastic vintages with Treasury Wine Estates working with some great colleagues and wonderful growers. I then spent three vintages working for Winegrapes Australia. Since May 2012, I have worked as an independent consultant enabling me to spend more time with my young family. I continue to do what I like doing best, working with grape growers, helping wineries manage growers and spending more time with my family. Working for yourself has its own challenges, but it also has its rewards. Every morning I get up and have a ten-second board meeting while I check Facebook and look at each day as the first day of work.
Precious Little for me is about finding the best little parcels of grapes (using my twenty years of experience) and transforming them into amazing wines without any pretentiousness. At the end of the day, it is about good friends, good times and good wines - Adam Smith
Precious Little Grower... Bruno Cocca
Bruno grows the Precious Little Nero D'Avola grapes in Marananga in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. Pictured with Adam.
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All wine can only be purchased and delivered to persons aged over 18.