Samantha Connew
GAZING AT STARS
Internationally acclaimed winemaker Samantha Connew has come a long way, smashing glass ceilings and nurturing new vines.
When Samantha finished a double degree in law and arts, making wine wasn’t on the cards. But on an overseas trip she had an epiphany and returned to New Zealand to study winemaking. She worked in high-profile jobs, won a prestigious international award and swore she’d never start her own label. Then passion and curiosity got the better of her and she began making tiny amounts of Tasmanian wine. The business took off and now Samantha crafts hand-picked, wild-fermented wines from her own vineyard.
From the South Island to the Apple Isle
Samantha starts most days on the run. She’s a long-distance runner who sees winemaking as a marathon, not a sprint.
“For me, running and winemaking, growing grapes, it’s all about getting up each morning and putting one foot in front of the other,” she says. “It’s about having the tenacity to keep going.”
After completing post-graduate studies in winemaking and viticulture in her home country of New Zealand, Samantha worked her first vintage in Oregon in the US and became hooked on Pinot Noir. She built her reputation as one of Australia’s best winemakers during a decade at McLaren Vale’s renowned Wirra Wirra, and in 2007 was named the International Red Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine Challenge in London.
It was while working in the Hunter Valley in wine research and development that she quietly started her own label, Stargazer, in 2013 (and soon after became the first female chair of judges at the Sydney Wine Show). The name is a nod to her origins and a tribute to explorer Abel Tasman, the first European to sight Tasmania and then New Zealand’s South Island, navigating by the stars.
Samantha’s business grew faster than expected, and a few years later she moved to Tasmania and bought a vineyard. She then got to work planting new vines, especially Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In 2019, her vineyard was named Tasmania Vineyard of the Year and Up and Coming Vineyard of the Year by the Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania.
Samantha takes a light-touch approach in the winery, handcrafting wines renowned for their purity and authenticity.
“I see myself as a guardian, getting the fruit into the bottle with a minimal amount of interference, and capturing the vineyard in that particular season,” she says.
“I see myself as a guardian, getting the fruit into the bottle with a minimal amount of interference, and capturing the vineyard.” – Samantha Connew
Disclaimer
This information is presented in good faith and on the basis that Wine Australia, nor their agents or employees, are liable (whether by reason of error, omission, negligence, lack of care or otherwise) to any person for any damage or loss whatsoever which has occurred or may occur in relation to that person taking or not taking (as the case may be) action in respect of any statement, information or advice given via this channel.
