From WA to Champagne and back 

As a teenager, Kate reluctantly tended the vineyards at her father’s young wine estate in Western Australia’s emerging wine region of Manjimup. Reluctance turned into passion and at 19 she deferred her agriculture degree and headed to France. The family she stayed with in Champagne encouraged her to apply to Lycée Viticole d’Avize in the Cote des Blancs, a school with an Advanced Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology that offered a few scholarships to international students. Here she learned the traditional method of making sparkling wine, wrote a thesis entirely in French and got hands-on experience with iconic Champagne producers. 

She brought these skills back to Western Australia, establishing herself as a sparkling wine authority with a focus on premium, bottle-fermented and aged sparkling. She helped her parents develop their growing winery, Stone Bridge Estate, and could well have continued on there for many years but fate intervened. Through a shared wine distributor she met her now husband Hamish Laurie, a winemaker from Adelaide Hills. Hamish’s great, great grandmother was one of South Australia’s first female winemakers, and his family still owned a vineyard high in the hills. 

“When we were choosing whether to settle in Western Australia or the Adelaide Hills, for me it was an easy decision,” says Kate. “The cool climate of the Adelaide Hills is just perfect for sparkling wine. So we set up the winery using the fruit from the family’s high-altitude vineyards, which are critical to the style of wine we make.”

Building a legacy 

Since 2001, Kate and Hamish have built Deviation Road into a highly regarded winery. Not surprisingly there’s a big focus on sparkling wines, led by their flagship Beltana Blanc de Blancs made with 100% Chardonnay grapes. Deviation Road is also known for its elegant, cool-climate Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. 

With the business thriving in 2013, Kate headed back to Champagne – this time with Hamish and the kids in tow – to live and work for six months. It was a chance catch up with old friends and refresh her knowledge. But this time it was her own skills that were in demand. Local winemakers were dealing with the challenges of climate change, which was causing the grapes’ acidity levels to drop and sugar levels to rise. In the comparatively warm climate of the Adelaide Hills Kate faces this challenge every year, and she was happy to pass on her knowledge – an example of Australian innovation influencing one of the world’s most traditional wine regions. 

Kate is not one to sit still for long. As well as being head winemaker at Deviation Road, she’s also completed a Bachelor of Medical Science and worked in the Ophthalmology Department at the Flinders Medical Centre studying genetic links to eye diseases. Her knack for science has been vital in honing her winemaking style, as has her fascination in the aspects that can’t be controlled – the magic of making sparkling wine. 

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