CORRINA WRIGHT

Grenache has always been my favourite and always will be. It’s one of the hardest grapes to work with, but it’s also one of the best, and I love making it.

Corrina Wright

OLIVER’S TARANGA, McLAREN VALE, SA

As a sixth-generation grower on the one property, winemaker Corrina grew up among the vines. When it comes to vintage, there’s not a lot she hasn’t seen.

ON 2020:

It’s looking a little late this year [picking was estimated for late February, early March]. We had a 46-degree day early in December and that resulted in a fair bit of berry loss. In general, it’s looking like relatively low crops, but we’re very thankful to have a vineyard and a crop, and not to have any smoke taint.

ON THE EXCITEMENT:

I like the adrenaline and the puzzle of it – when there’s a spanner in the works, you work it out. And I like the creativity of seeing what’s going to happen. The cool thing about making wine is that it represents a different year each time. I tend to measure time in vintages and it’s amazing how often it relates to what was going on in your life at the time. For example, my son was born in 2010, and that was one of the greatest vintages for McLaren Vale. You have to make a lot of decisions and think on your feet about the weather, what equipment’s available, what the picking gang is doing, and what you want to do with the wine. But what the vintage tells you and what you want to do are often two different things.

ON HER FAVOURITE BITS:

The smells change – from the harvesters going through the vines or the smells of the ferments, and it also can smell dusty. I also really like the community side of it, like the Wednesday night dinners for everyone at S.C. Pannell. The region grows with lots of backpackers and people doing vintage from other countries. There’s a real vibrancy during vintage.

ON HER LEAST FAVOURITE BITS:

I don’t like it when people aren’t problem solvers, when they get in the way. I’m into people mucking in and having a crack. It’s a time of year when the community has to be a parent sometimes, and you’re doing long hours and you’re often just crossing paths with your partner.

ON THE HOURS:

I don’t physically have to do all the work in the winery, but I do spend a lot of time in the vineyard, walking the rows and blocks, and planning it out. We machineharvest at night and hand-harvest in the day, and you don’t switch off. The vineyard is around my house, and it’s just me – I don’t have a shift change. But it’s only for a short period of time.

ON PREVIOUS DISASTERS:

In 2018 we had an accidental blend. A higher quality cabernet went in, so the wine is arguably significantly better, but I also won’t have a cabernet from that year. The 2018 was a pretty spectacular crop, so it was looking pretty good in its own right. Insurance gets involved and the physical cost is dealt with, but it still hurts. And last year, the sagrantino was at 13 baume on the weekend before the February heatwave, but the tannins were really green, so I wanted to keep them on. Then, of course, it was 46 degrees and they became sultanas. I knew the heat was coming, but I didn’t think it would be that bad!

ON THE CURRENT FOCUS:

Grenache has always been my favourite and always will be. It’s one of the hardest grapes to work with, but it’s also one of the best, and I love making it. We’re also now working with mencia that we planted in 2011, and its vines are still settling in. We’ve been making a rosé out of it, and now also a Joven style, which is floral but not with a lot of tannin. And I love our fiano and vermentino, which I’m particularly enjoying drinking at the moment. It makes me feel like I’m still on holidays.