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Winemaker of the year 2008 finalists: Sue Hodder & Allen Jenkins

The refinement in the Wynns wines from the 2004 and 2005 vintages is clear-cut. There was greater purity of fruit flavour, more restrained use of oak, better balance, more elegance and finesse. This is most pronounced in the flagship cabernets but is also evident in some rare single-vineyard reds – the 2004 Wynns Johnson’s Block Shiraz Cabernet and the 2005 Wynns Messenger Cabernet Sauvignon – and throughout the Wynns portfolio.

A significant change has been the collaboration between Wynns chief winemaker Sue Hodder and Foster’s regional viticulturist Allen Jenkins, which has seen a closer liaison between vineyard and winery. Hodder now spends more time in the vineyard and lobbies for increased investment there from a winemaking perspective. On the other hand, Jenkins and other members of the viticultural staff spend more time in the tasting room, and they’re just as delighted as the winemaking staff with a new premium open fermentation cellar. This houses 24 small fermenters (stainless steel with brine cooling) that can handle 2-10 tonnes, enabling small parcels from old vineyards to be closely monitored throughout the production process.

Hodder began her career working in viticulture with Rob Gibson at Penfolds, and went to Seppelt Great Western and then to Seaview to make sparkling wines with Ed Carr. She loved the Wynns’ style and was keen to try red winemaking, so joined her friend from Roseworthy, Peter Douglas, at Wynns 15 years ago.

From 1981 to 1989, Jenkins taught viticulture at Roseworthy, before moving to TAFE in the Barossa for five years, where he was involved in writing and teaching the first trade viticulture courses in South Australia. He then had seven years as vineyard manager for Southcorp in the Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills before moving to Coonawarra where he is regional vineyard manager for Limestone Coast South, responsible for viticulture in Foster’s vineyards in Robe and Coonawarra.

Since Jenkins arrived in 2002, much has been done to revitalise Foster’s Coonawarra vineyards, with over A$9 million spent on irrigation, retrellising and replanting. High-output frost sprinklers have been replaced with low-volume systems, and 900 hectares of drip irrigation has replaced the inefficient sprinklers. This enables precise irrigation just before harvest, creating better tannin structure and resulting in the improvement seen in the John Riddoch.

Many of the Coonawarra vineyards were approaching 30 years of age and needed retrellising to rejuvenate the vines and set them up for the next 30-year cycle. On 150 hectares, the vines had the cordons removed and new canes wrapped down. On another 300 hectares, old material was sawn off and the vine re-established from new water shoots. About 95 hectares were grubbed and replaced by better clones or more appropriate varieties.

A key to the approach to viticulture has been rigorously targeting bud fruitfulness to monitor yields. Most of the vineyards are pre-pruned by machine, with bud numbers  adjusted by hand. The Childs vineyard has yielded the best material for John Riddoch in years such as 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2005, when it has produced 2.5-6 tonnes to the hectare. The vineyard is bunch-thinned so it doesn’t yield above that.
 
Hodder is delighted that she can now  source better oak. John Riddoch is selected by barrel, and so in a lighter year, such as 2003, a lower percentage of new oak is used, whereas in 2004 the fruit suited a higher percentage. Apart from that and the ability to ferment smaller parcels of fruit, Hodder believes little has changed  at Wynns. Except the viticulture.

This collaboration has returned Wynns to centre stage in Coonawarra.

TEXT PETER FORRESTAL PHOTOGRAPHY WYNNS COONAWARRA ESTATE

This article appeared in the August/September 2008 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.