Our People

Words: Katie Spain

Our winemakers, viticulturists, cellar hands, marketers, wine slingers and grape pickers share a deep bond. A shared humility and a sense that no matter how fine a wine is, the people and authenticity behind it matter most. 

They are custodians of place and culture. Some stem from families who have worked the same patch of dirt for more than a century, others who chose to leave their homeland and ‘chase the grape’ on South Australian turf. The visionaries who led the way are well documented. 

To list them all would require a Tolkein-esque Lord of the Rings-style tome but legends like John Riddoch who established Coonawarra in 1890, Penfolds Grange mastermind Max Schubert, and pioneering spirits such as Brian Croser, Prue and Stephen Henschke, Tim Knappstein, Geoff Weaver, Geoff Hardy, Stephen George, and Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith MW need no introduction. 

These legends draw on the wisdom and techniques of yore, while working with modern-day technology to produce elegant wines of exceptional quality. Knowledge is power. Gentle Riesling king John Vickery knew it. He shared knowledge with the new generation until his final days. 

Together, they put a spotlight on South Australia for all the right reasons. Trailblazer winemaker and consultant Pamela Dunsford OAM won the 2022 Maurice O’Shea Award for more than four decades of contribution to the Australia wine industry. Since studying at the University of Adelaide in the early 1970s, Dunsford was the first woman admitted to study Oenology at Roseworthy Agricultural College and inspired many a female grape whisperer to follow in her footsteps. 

Growers such as the late Bernard Smart simply got on with it, in Smart’s case, quietly championing grenache through the good times and the gut-wrenchingly difficult. Farming is challenging and vignerons are often forced to ride out Mother Nature’s wrath and her high points.