The Winemaker
Our winemaker, Andrew Quin, has taken a slightly unusual road to winemaking. With no family history in the wine industry, the road started with an interest in gardening as a little fella. This interest then headed towards viticulture and then winemaking as his love of wine grew. The realisation that winemaking could provide an opportunity to combine the two interests came whilst studying horticulture and the transition was an obvious one. For Andrew, winemaking provided an unparalleled opportunity to combine scientific knowledge with his artistic flair, in the pursuit of creating something that others could enjoy....great wine!
For the following several years, he moved around the northern hemisphere, travelling to California for a stint with ultra premium Sonoma producer St Francis winery, then worked under renowned Merlot and Zinfandel winemaker Tom Mackey. The thirst for knowledge and development then lead Andrew to the old world, taking a role with Bordeaux based negociant, Jacques Lurton. His role was to manage individual cooperative productions and here he learnt directly from Jacques and his leading winemakers.
He returned to Australia with one question in mind... 'which region most suits my winemaking style and passion for wine?' The answer was simple - the mighty Barossa, where big, bold reds are the norm, and complex, textural whites a discovery.
Whilst based in the Barossa with Yalumba working on their premium reds, the opportunity to join the team at Hentley Farm arose. Following a brief look at the vineyard site, and the 2006 premium Shirazes, he jumped on board because "it was very clear to (him) that working for Hentley Farm would provide a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity to create some of the best single vineyard and single block wines our country and the winemaking community has seen." At Hentley Farm, Andrew aims to create exceptional wines that are a true expression of the site on which they are grown, and that are attractive and approachable when young, while maintaining great 'age-ability'.
