Wine Maker
Robin Moody
Robin Moody
Robin says his years in the Australian wine industry have given him unique and valuable experience and exposure to some of the best red winemaking Australia has to offer. He fails to mention that he is one of the major contributors!
Robin Moody BA, RDOen (Hons), joined Penfolds in 1969, having been interviewed and then employed by the great Max Schubert, of Grange Hermitage fame. During this time, he worked two vintages (1970 and 1971) at the Magill cellars under Mr Schubert and clearly remembers the fruit that made the legendary 1971 Grange come through the fermentation cellars there. He worked closely with all the well known Penfolds winemakers of the time – Max Schubert, of course, John Davoren at Auldana, Ray Beckwith at Nuriootpa, Mike Press, Don Ditter, John Bird and John Duval.
Over this period, he was deeply involved with all aspects of their greatest wines - the production of Penfolds Grange, St Henri and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. When the production of Grange was moved to Nuriootpa from Magill in 1974, he was specifically asked by Max Schubert to ensure that the Grange style and standards were strictly adhered to. Quite an undertaking!
Robin had experience at the Magill, Auldana and Nuriootpa (Barossa) cellars before moving to Wynns in Melbourne where he worked as Division and Chief Winemaker. One can see the Penfolds influence was still very strong during his time at Wynns. The Wynns reds of the early eighties all benefited from his insistence on having fully ripe fruit. In an area like Coonawarra, at the time, this was not always a given.
A subsequent corporate takeover (1985) brought him back into the Penfolds/Southcorp fold where he fulfilled various roles including Group Manager of the Barossa, Coonawarra and Hunter wineries, and Production Development Manager, before finally leaving the company in 2001.
Since 1998, Robin has made high quality Shiraz and Cabernet wines under the Cape d’Estaing label. The grapes for these wines are from a vineyard on Kangaroo Island of which he is part owner. The wines have had limited exposure in Australia but have received accolades in export markets, including the USA, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong.
In 2001, Robin formed a small family enterprise, Somerled Wines, with his wife Heather and daughters Emma and Lucinda. Their Somerled McLaren Vale Shiraz has been a highly successful boutique winemaking enterprise with both the 2001 and 2002 vintages selling out upon release.