Adelaide GP, Hugh Lloyd, and his wife Mary Kathleen ("Molly"), purchased this property in 1967. At the time, the estate was known as "Chateau Bonne Santé".
Hugh and Molly named the winery and vineyards "Coriole", and released their first wine under the Coriole label in 1970.
Within the Lloyd family, there are now conflicting stories about where the name Coriole came from!
Hugh and Molly's original business partners were the Collett family (now of Woodstock Winery), and it is thought that the name "Coriole" was a combination of letters of the two family names - Lloyd and Collett.
The other theory points to the ancient Italian town of Corioli. Hugh and Molly's son, Tim, says: "Molly was trying to find a name for the business. She was attracted to the word Cardinal, and would discuss it with us, but then another neighbour of ours, John Gordon, came up with the suggestion of Coriole. John was very keen on Classical Greece and Italy and Ancient Egypt. Coriole had the hard “C” which was good for brands, everyone decided, and it also had a mysteriously French mood to it. But I think John’s main attraction to the word was the Corioli, one of the tribes of Rome, who lived south of Rome in an area where vineyards are common and winemaking dates back through the ages. The Corioli were the people who hired the Roman general, who would come to be called Coriolanus, and was the subject of Shakespeare’s play."
Hugh and Molly's grandson, Peter Lloyd, has heard the story that the name "Coriole" actually came to John Gordon in a dream! "In John's dream, he was driving through McLaren Vale and approaching the Chaffeys Road property. As he approached he saw a huge archway over the entry with the word "Coriole" written across it. He reported his dream to Hugh and Molly who decided that was the perfect name!"
While we may never agree on where it originated, the Coriole name celebrated 50 years in 2019. Hugh and Molly's passion for winemaking is now carried on as a third-generation family business, and the Lloyds are proud to continue to produce wine under the Coriole name.