If you don’t already know the Fassina family, you would have heard the name before – it’s synonymous with wine business in Adelaide.

Since 1975 when the Fassina family bought Chateau Marbay Wines at Payneham, it has been involved in wine production and wine sales in South Australia, however most people would remember their flagship liquor store at Somerton Park, where Fassina S.A. Family Liquor Merchants all began.

After moving the business from Payneham to Somerton Park in the 1970s, Joe Fassina, the patriarch of the family, and his son Ross turned the Somerton Park site into a bottling hall and liquor warehouse which later became a retail liquor outlet.

In 1986 the Fassinas joined forces with Martin Bailey and built up the Vintage Cellars brand, growing the business to 25 stores and two hotels in South Australia and 40 stores in Victoria. In 1992 the business was sold to Coles, but the Fassinas retained four stores.

Joe, along with his son Ross, and daughter Eleanor, rebranded the remaining four stores as the Super Cellars chain. The business also became very successful and they added another six stores in Adelaide and three stores Victoria before selling out of the liquor retail chain in 2003.

The Fassina family continued to observe the changing liquor market, noting the decline in customer service and range and in 2004, after extensive renovation to the original Somerton Park site, Fassina Liquor Merchants was launched, specialising in fine wines, local and back vintage wines, low prices and customer service.

Fassina Liquor Merchants is 100 per cent family owned and operated. Ross is now Managing Director and Eleanor is Administration Manager, but they have now been joined by Ross’s two children, Elise as Marketing Manager and Adam as Operations Manager. Joe is still very much the patriarch, overseeing the family and its business.

Fassina Liquor now has eight stores around Adelaide, with the Somerton Park Store Manager Paul Tonatello spending the past 10 years building a loyal Wine Club following, with more than 100 members attending regular wine tasting events. The Wine Club has been a valuable addition to the business, hosting up to 10 events each year, introducing clients to new wines they would normally not have access to, and offering small producers without cellar doors the opportunity to showcase their wines in the large tasting room above the Somerton Park store.

For the Fassina family, it’s about bringing the excitement back into wine. “We are proudly South Australian and believe we have the best wines in the world right here on our doorstep,” they say. “And we have the largest range of local and back vintage wines in the state.”

More information can be found here.