Sue Hodder

Sue Hodder has been Senior Winemaker of Wynns Coonawarra Estate since 1993, and that length of service carries its own authority. At a property watched so closely, year after year becomes a working record of soil, season, and cellar decisions. Her time there has been built on consistency and a measured reading of site, the kind that comes from paying attention over many vintages. The result is a familiarity with Coonawarra that is practical, grounded, and hard won.

The work today centers on Cabernet Sauvignon, and that focus gives her role a clear line. Her comments on site and label are direct, and the wines match that tone: “Initially it was planted as a genuine site selection.” In that sentence there is a straightforward account of purpose, with the vineyard understood for what it was chosen to do. She has also said, “The labels are works of art.” Taken together, the remarks show a winemaker who treats presentation as part of the job, from vineyard decision to bottle.

Sue's signature wines include John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine sits naturally within her body of work, reflecting the patient and exacting standards that have defined her years at Wynns Coonawarra Estate. It also shows how Cabernet Sauvignon, in her hands, is handled with restraint and a strong sense of identity.

Hodder places her tenure against the longer measure of Coonawarra winemaking: “20 years is a mere “blip” in the timeline of Coonawarra winemaking but these have been dense years in the Wynns story.” The line sets her work within a region where accumulation matters more than noise, and where knowledge is built vintage after vintage. She adds, “We have learned so much and I am immensely proud to have been part of it all.”

The pride is clear, but so is the emphasis on shared work: a long stretch in which Wynns Coonawarra Estate, and Hodder herself, have been shaped by the pressure and promise of the region.