Meet The Trailblazers

Here are three women winemakers in Australia who are levelling the playing field and inspiring a generation of younger winemakers across the globe.

- Nimmi Malhotra

Sue Hodder, senior winemaker at Wynns

YARRA YERING DRY RED NO.1 2016

Grapes: Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, petit verdot

Taste: Matured in French oak for 15 months, this is a Bordeaux-inspired blend crafted in the Yarra Valley. The wine presents a delicious fruit core, edged with cinnamon, clove and sage. It is structural and elegant, and has the potential to develop for another 10 to 15 years.

$125, Straits Wine Company

DIANA MADELINE 2010

Grapes: Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec

Taste: Farmed biodynamically, this flagship Cullen wine spent 19 months in 51% new oak. On the nose, look for dried flowers and macerated berries. On the palate, mulberry, cedar and savoury notes of black olives. It is a supple and elegant sip framed by aged ripe tannins.

$205, Hai Choo Wines & Spirits

WYNNS BLACK LABEL CABERNET RESERVE 2019

Grapes: Cabernet sauvignon

Taste: Grown on terra rossa soils, the fruity notes of blackcurrant, blackberry and blueberries are tinged with dried mint, eucalyptus and a touch of cedar. A medium-bodied wine with defined tannins and acid brings structural definition. A cellar staple in Australia.

$48, Cold Storage/Lazada

From afar, it may seem that an increasing number of Australian women are helming the wine sector. But that impression belies hard numbers and facts. The 2016 census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that overall employment of women in the wine sector is still well below 50 per cent. When it came to senior viticultural roles, the percentage dropped down to an estimated 8 to 10 percent.