Miss Zilm Wines
Clare Valley , South Australia
Brands
Miss Zilm
Winery Overview
After making wine in the Clare Valley for more than 15 years, Keeda Zilm finally took the plunge and established Miss Zilm Wines in 2019. Miss Zilm Wines is boutique in size and nature, with the aim of capturing the purity of the Clare Valley and it’s sub-regions. Keeda’s focus is on what the region does best whilst embracing minimal intervention viticulture, and implementing organic winemaking practices.
Seeking Distribution in
Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA, Vietnam
Winemaker Bio
Keeda Zilm grew up in Kingston, 250km south-east of Adelaide. Whilst winemaking, specifically, wasn't her first consideration she has always had a passion for agriculture and a path of winemaking seemed a compelling direction to further explore this interest.
It was during her Oenology degree at the University of Adelaide (graduated in 2002) that Keeda began work at O'Leary Walker Wines (OLW) in the Clare Valley. Her initial position as cellar hand quickly morphed into winemaker and before long she was over-seeing four full-time cellar hands, five casual vintage employees and working directly with David Walker and Nick O'Leary, a position she held for 10 years. Along with maintaining and executing the blend portfolio for OLW, Keeda also worked as a grower liaison, harvest logistics person, director of operations of red ferments and an oak and equipment procurer for the company.
In October 2018, after an incredible 16 years at OLW, Keeda took charge of the winemaking at Vickery Wines, where her experience in Australia’s pre-eminent Riesling region is perfectly suited. She had also to that point, worked on every single Vickery vintage since the first in 2014, as the Vickery Watervale Rieslings have all been juiced at OLW under her care. Working alongside John Vickery at each step of the grape growing and winemaking process, Keeda is the custodian of John’s grape growing and winemaking philosophy and processes.
In addition to her work at OLW and Vickery, Keeda has winemaking experience from vintage roles for Domaine Dubois (Burgundy) and Elk Cove (Oregon) as well as professional development via the AWRI Advanced Wine Assessment Course, regional Clare Wine Show chief steward, the Clare Valley Education Committee and the Clare Valley Tasting Group.
Miss Zilm wines is Keeda’s personal winemaking project. The focus is on the Clare Valley, organic practices and minimal intervention where her experience, passion and skills align.
