Showcasing the Clare Valley at its best

You’ll never catch Stephanie cutting corners. Quality is her biggest driving force. She’s also passionate about producing world-class wines in a sustainable way. In the years after buying Mount Horrocks, Stephanie acquired and planted or replanted three vineyards, and one of her proudest achievements is having them certified organic.

“When you’re planting vineyards, it’s about leaving the land in a better place than what you found it for future generations,” she says.

“If you come here [to the Clare Valley] and you look at the sky at night, the stars are extraordinary. It’s such a clear, clean, beautiful environment, which is one of the reasons why I’m certified organic, because it is possible to do that.”

The Mount Horrocks cellar door – which Stephanie opened in the renovated Auburn railway station – is the perfect place to try her seven distinctive wines. She makes Riesling, Semillon, Rose, Nero d’Avola, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cordon Cut Riesling dessert wine – a carefully cultivated lineup she never stops improving. She was also one of the earliest in Australia to produce Nero d’Avola, a red variety native to Sicily that she’s been growing since 2007.

An impressive list of Australian and international awards are testament to Stephanie’s skill. A career highlight was having her Cordon Cut Riesling poured at Queen Elizabeth’s 80th birthday lunch at Mansion House – the only Australian wine served.

“I like to make wines that are very elegant,” says Stephanie. “I like to make wines that are enjoyable as young wines, but also have the capacity to age. Most of all, they’ve got to be delicious. Wine is for drinking. It’s for sharing with family and friends or your loved ones. I like to think that my wines represent that.”

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