Robin Brockett

The Climb

Since 2013, Robin Brockett has held two winemaking roles at once: Chief Winemaker of Scotchmans Hill and winemaker of Robin Brockett Wines. The arrangement asks for control without rigidity, moving between estate work and his own label with the same attention to ferment, barrel, and vintage variation. It is a craft built on reading change closely and making decisions that let each wine hold its own shape. The work, in Brockett’s own words, is about change and the creative spark at the centre of the cellar. Wine is not presented here as a fixed result, but as a medium that shifts from year to year and resists repetition. That outlook traces back to New Zealand, where he was working in the wine industry when it was still very small.

Today

As Chief Winemaker at Scotchmans Hill on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Robin Brockett works in a site where place is part of the brief. The role sits at the meeting point of cellar practice and the peninsula’s coastal agricultural setting. He also remains winemaker of Robin Brockett Wines, where the same judgment is carried through under his own name.

Signature

Robin Brockett’s named wines include the 2015 Amphora Syrah, 2017 Swinburn Pinot Noir, 2016 Fenwick Pinot Noir, 2017 Fenwick Shiraz, and 2019 Swinburn Chardonnay. Taken together, they point to a practice attentive to varietal distinction and to the different textures each format can carry. The throughline is not uniformity but control: each wine is allowed to read as itself while still reflecting a consistent hand.

In Their Words “Wine is always changing and evolving. No two wines are ever the same. The ultimate hook was the creativity of making wine.” “I am originally from New Zealand and was working there in the wine industry there when it was very small.”