A giant of the nation's wine industry has died at the age of 90.
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Bill Chambers earned a reputation across the country for his wine judging, while in his home town of Rutherglen he produced muscats that were hailed on a global stage.
The father of four died on the morning of Thursday, December 14, at Rutherglen's Glenview nursing home where he had been living since June.
Former long-serving Winemakers of Rutherglen chair Chris Pfeiffer described Mr Chambers, who he first met in 1974, as a mentor to him and many others.
"He was generous with his time and in helping people understand wine," Mr Pfeiffer said.
"He was no-nonsense, he wasn't a wine snob."
Mr Pfeiffer added: "It's the end of the era, almost. Mick Morris is still with us, but Mick will be the one last one of that era, when you talk about Bill and Mick and John Brown senior and George Smith."
Born at Rutherglen on June 5, 1933, Mr Chambers was the fifth generation of his family to be a winemaker, but the first to formally attain that qualification after studying at Roseworthy Agricultural College in South Australia.
He began in the industry as a junior winemaker in the Clare Valley before returning home in 1958 following the death of his grandfather.
With the family partnership with St Leonards breaking up, Mr Chambers developed the Rosewood property, which in turn gave its name to his winery.
From the 1960s to the 1990s the area under vines went from four to 108 hectares and wine exports to the US and Britain began in the mid-1980s and now extend to 11 countries.
In addition to driving production on the home front, Mr Chambers was a distinguished wine judge across Australia, chairing the Melbourne Wine Show adjudication panel for 21 years and assessing samples at events in every state.
"He developed a palate which allowed him to come back to the winery and look at his wines critically," Mr Chambers' son Stephen, who succeeded him as winemaker at Rosewood, said.
Mr Pfeiffer said Mr Chambers also regularly spoke to leading wine writers Len Evans and James Halliday which allowed him to influence them and in turn reach their readers.
Stephen Chambers became Rosewood's winemaker after 2000, with his father acting as a consultant and remaining on the cellar door until 2019.
"He'd been with it for so long, he had been doing it for 40 years and it really became him and it was hard for him to step back and everybody asked for him when they came in, even as recently as last year we had people asking if he was still making wine," Stephen said.
Bill Chambers received countless accolades including being named "the undisputed king of the fortified wine business" in the Wine Spectator magazine and being awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2004.
He described that honour as "most unexpected".
Mr Chambers also told The Border Mail at the time he was "very lucky" to be making wines thanks to the toil of ancestors.
"It is a wonderful feeling when you discover you have made a crackerjack wine but it happens only about three times every 20 years," he said.
Mr Chambers married his first wife Catherine, who came from Benalla, in 1961 and they had four children, Kay, Allison, Jonathan and Stephen.
Following Mrs Chambers' death in 1986, he wed Wendy Crawley in 1989.
In addition to winemaking, Mr Chambers raised cattle and sheep, having Poll Dorset and Border Leicester studs and producing prime lamb.
In his later years, Mr Chambers taught himself Latin and Ancient Greek, impressing his tour guide and fellow visitors during a trip to Jordan by translating wording on antiquities.
"Somebody saw him at an airport in New Zealand reading Winnie-the-Pooh and they were wondering why he was reading that, it turned out it was in Latin," Stephen recalled.
Mr Chambers, who was the oldest of seven brothers, is survived by his wife, children and three grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are still being made.
