Our Winemaker

The son of Linda and Tony Hunter (and of course, my brother), Mark commenced his involvement with the business in the vineyard as the viticulturist, but his natural creative flair soon saw him deeply involved with the winemaking process.

For the 2000 and 2002 vintages, Mark understudied Matt Hunter (no relation) who made the Sanguine Estate Shiraz (only one wine back then) in his winery called Langanook at Sutton Grange. Matt’s approach to winemaking was very much “by the book” with constant analysis and testing which was critical for Mark’s development in the early years.

After some very successful vintages including the sell out of our vintages in less than 6 months, we decided that upon expiration of a grape supply contract to Southcorp that we would build a winery on our Estate in Heathcote and produce wine from 100% of our grape production. Going from a rather small winemaking operation ie several hundred cases to 10,000 cases in just one year. Therefore a decision was made to engage a local Heathcote winemaker who not only had vast experience and success with producing wine in the Heathcote region but who also had European winemaking experience.  So while the winery was being designed and built, the Sanguine Estate wine (2002 and 2003 vintages) was made off site by winemaker Peter Dredge (Red Edge Heathcote brand) together with Mark.

(note: Matt Hunter also contributed to the 2002 blend with wine made from grapes from our Estate).