Kate McIntyre MW
MASTER OF MORNINGTON
As a Master of Wine, Kate McIntyre’s expertise is in demand around the globe. But the Mornington Peninsula wine region keeps drawing her back.
From reluctant visitor of her parents’ vineyard to international wine expert, Kate’s been on a fascinating wine journey she never could’ve predicted. She’s the face of her family’s renowned winery, where her father has been handcrafting premium wines since the 1980s, and where she now contributes her own boundary-pushing ideas.
No place like home
In Victoria’s cool-climate Mornington Peninsula wine region, renowned for its world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Kate leads marketing for Moorooduc Estate. Established in 1982 by her parents, Richard and Jill, today it’s one of the region’s best known wineries.
“I grew up being dragged down here on weekends. And for all of my teenage years and early twenties, I was dead against being involved in the business at all,” says Kate.
In her 20s, after studying languages and theatre, Kate got a job in a bottle shop. Within a month she’d fallen in love with the industry and eventually made her way back to her parents’ winery. Soon after, she completed a Master of Wine – the highest qualification in the industry and the toughest to complete. There are fewer than 400 Masters of Wine in the world today.
“It’s quite a gruelling process, it took me a long time,” says Kate. “And it was the first thing that I have ever done in my life that I wasn’t sure whether I could do.”
As a Master of Wine, Kate is in demand around the world. On top of her work at Moorooduc Estate, she writes about wine, judges at wine shows and speaks at events. But she’s never away from Mornington for long.
“The Mornington Peninsula is an easy place to lose yourself in,” she says. “The thing that brought me back is that it’s green and it’s lush. It’s just beautiful.”
In 2015, after three years of trying to convince her dad to make a white wine on skins, they made their first skin-contact Pinot Gris, inspired by a wine Kate tasted in Italy.
“It’s turned out to be a really important part of the portfolio and I'm always incredibly proud to open a bottle of our Pinot Gris on Skins, because I know that was something that really came from me,” she says.
“The Australian wine sector is a really lovely place to work. We like an excuse to open a bottle and share it with people, and open people’s eyes up to the deliciousness of Australian wine.”
“We like an excuse to open a bottle and share it with people, and open people’s eyes up to the deliciousness of Australian wine.” – Kate McIntyre
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