My Vintage Experience as a Travelling Winemaker in Margaret River.
How It Went
Margaret River: Heaven on Earth
My First Experience
I first visited Margaret River back in 2020, on my first solo trip to Australia. Flying to Perth from Adelaide to visit my Aussie friend from Big White, Grace.
Grace took me on an adventure down South. Leaving the quirky little suburb of Fremantle in the rearview, we hit the highway covering 270 km to reach the town of Margaret River (Margs).
I had never been anywhere quite like Margs.
Fragrant eucalyptus trees frame the picturesque vistas of crystal-clear blue water and champagne sands. Bare-footed, free-souled surfers sharing frothy beers with smiling peers. Sensational sunsets and toasting to good times with delectable wines.
I knew this couldn’t and wouldn’t be the last time I visited this little slice of heaven.
Fast forward 4 years, a pandemic and a degree, and I was back.
This time I wasn’t only drinking the wine, I was making it.
Grape-Growing Paradise
Margaret River region finds itself on the old left boot of the great Australian continent. The ‘Down South’ of Western Australia, 3 hours drive away from Perth.
The warm Indian Ocean stretches from Busselton in the North along the West Coast, down to Augusta in the South, where it meets the cooler Southern Ocean.
During my vintage, I remember conversing with a viticulturist who said ‘Margs has got to be the easiest place in the world to grow grapes’. It is a ‘grape-growing paradise’.
Geographically, one of the most isolated wine regions in the world. Pair this with a Mediterranean maritime influence, ancient well-draining soils and a long growing season, and you have the perfect environment for both vine and vacationists.
Despite this, the region is still one of the smallest for production in Australia. 200 wine producers, accounting for 2% of all Australian wine. However, it accounts for 20% of Australia’s fine wine.
How I Did: Job
If you hemisphere-hop for vintages, you need to apply for the opposite hemisphere’s vintage as soon as you are grape-deep in the current one. This makes applying for jobs, paired with the time difference, quite a challenge.
My partner Daniel and I didn’t apply early enough for Margaret River jobs. We barely applied early enough for any Aussie harvest jobs, even though we started October 23 for the 24 vintage. Hence the emphasis on starting early.
We had already got visas sorted, and flights booked, with layovers in Singapore and Bali, on our way to Australia. However, still no job.
Starting to sweat, Dan woke me up one early morning in Ubud exclaiming we needed to send an email straight away. There had been a last-minute drop-out post for the Credaro Family Wine Estate in Margaret River on the Travelling Winemakers Facebook group. It went up a few minutes earlier and time was of the essence.
I quickly compiled an email and sent it off to the winemaker, Paul. This being our only glimmer of hope for an Aussie vintage, we crossed our fingers and toes waiting for a response and swiftly booked a massage to relieve the tension. Just as we were hopping on the back of our Grab bikes to head to the massage, we got a phone call from a +61 number. It was Paul. I zipped off, leaving Daniel behind to pay off the grab driver for his patience whilst we awaited our fate. I later had a phone interview and we waited with bated breath to know the outcome.
A week later, we got the email en route to a sushi train lunch in Brisbane. The job was ours. We were ecstatic. The next hurdle was buying a car and driving a mere 5,462 km from the East Coast to the West.
Crossing the Nullarbor is not one for the sightseers. After the first 100 km, the novelty starts to wear off and the brown, straight road shows itself for what it truly is, a highway to kangaroo heaven. The only signs of life are the odd passing car, road train and roadhouse. As monotonous as it may have been, the sense of accomplishment and gratefulness for humanity as we entered Perth is a feeling like no other.
A few days later we were on our way down to Margaret River, for a truly unforgettable 3 months.
How I Did: Accommodation
Accommodation in Margaret River is highly sought-after. Blessed to be working for one of the only wineries to offer staff accommodation, this was one less thing to consider on such late notice. As it turned out, one of the guys we did our UK vintage with worked in the vineyard and would be living with us.Also from our UK vintage, we knew people doing vintages at Devil’s Lair, Margaret River Vintners, Xanadu and Vasse Felix. The wine community really is that small.
Our accommodation was rustic but that was part of its charm. We had a few animal friends come to stay with us and the house struggled in the 40-degree heat (who doesn’t). It was a small price to pay with the vineyard as our back garden, minimal rent and a 5-minute commute to work. Every minute counts during harvest.
How Did My: First Harvest Abroad Go
I landed on my feet working for the Credaro Family Wine Estate. Most of the region’s producers are family-run and owned. Credaro was a shining example of this. Rob Credaro, the grandson of Cesare, the founder of Credaro Wines, first planted Fragola, an Italian varietal, in 1922. It is still family run by Rob and his sons. Chris and Matt oversee the vineyards and winemaking. Mike takes care of the avocado and pomegranate side of the business and Jason, works as Head Brewer at Shelter. The family are still involved in livestock, of which the 7 very important hoard of Border Collie’s help to tend to (see Harley below).
This vintage was a massive learning curve. Despite it being my third vintage, it felt like my first. Previously working with only traditional sparkling wine, I had to learn all these new processes and fast.
The earliest vintage on record for Margaret River. They had already begun harvesting on our first day. Our training consisted of a few hours of health and safety and then it was straight to learning by doing.
The White Grape Arrival
Four vintage cellar hands, two assistant winemakers, two head winemakers and one full-time cellar hand. A multinational team made up of Brits, Chileans, Argentinians and Aussies ready to tackle the harvest.
Hours were 6 days a week, a minimum of 9 hours a day. I was put on the day shift, a luxury I have afforded with all my vintages so far (night shift, I know you are coming for me). Due to the production size, the night shift was only required until the white harvesting was completed. In 2024, due to the unseasonable heat, this lasted around 2 weeks.
This meant the night crew mostly dealt with the fruit processing as it came in. Predominately Chardonnay, the main white focus, alongside Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Pinot Grigio and some fun Fiano. The morning crew mostly handled racking, flotation, additions and inoculations. Unsure of the terms? See the definitions below.
We switched around jobs and roles to reduce monotony. However, we all started to shine in our particular areas. Dan managed to pick up the name Mr. NTU as he gained a new found talent for racking to a specific NTU (turbidity). I was crowned the inoculation queen. Becoming truly at one with the yeasty boys, doing up to 5 inoculations a day at the peak of harvest. However, I also started to gain notoriety as the thermometer killer. 4 in one vintage has to be a world record. All this whilst fighting the 40-degree heat that had overcome the region. If you think that meant I got away lightly by being undercover, near the cool tanks, think again. A lot of the winery setups in Margaret River are very much add-ons. Original wineries joined by more and more sheds with corrugated iron roofing. This effectively makes one giant greenhouse. Mix that with the fermenting tanks releasing carbon dioxide and we had a very hot party.
We were quite glad to see the back of the white grapes after a long, hot and repetitive few weeks. On the days we managed to get away a little early, we made the most of by heading straight to the beach. The first sip of the free after-work beer hits differently after a cool-off in the ocean. Often we would be joined by some curious dolphins, equally as keen to catch the sunset. It was a whole body and mind reset and it was the first time I understood what a work-life balance truly meant. That is saying something during harvest hours.
Lady in Red (winemaking)
The moment I had been waiting for was here. My career goal of ‘making a seriously good red wine’ was about to be set into motion. With the night crew becoming the later morning crew, the original morning team took over a lot of the fruit processing. It was time to put my very new forklifting skills to the test. Being the only female working in the cellar and a newbie, my forklifting was much slower and more calculated than some of my male counterparts. That meant my skills were called on when the time frame was a little more forgiving.
Alongside inoculations, additions and rackings, were the new elements of cap management and barrel filling. Tank after tank was being filled and before we knew it, cap management had become our lives.
I wasn’t just learning new practical processes, I was getting to apply my theoretical degree knowledge to my job every day. I started to train my nose with regular tastings and ferment rounds. Looking for any present faults and adjustments that could be made to length and type of management. The pump over of the day would be done based on the previous days analyses. Once the ferments had been tasted in the morning, the decisions for the rest of the day could be made. I started to learn the real juggling act between reduction (needing more air, more cap management) and over-extraction (too much cap management) in red wine making.
Soon, stained red hands became the norm. One tank would be drained, dug out and pressed ready to be quickly cleaned and loaded up again. I went from having no experience with barrels to spending days on end in the barrel hall, cleaning and filling them. Every day I left with that electric feeling, exhaustion blended with a real sense of achievement. This felt like a real harvest and what I had been working so hard towards.
Working at Credaro
Credaro gave me a lot of winemaking firsts. However, more importantly, they foster a culture where you are confident to turn those firsts into seconds. Something I love about Australian people in general, but especially the team at Credaro, is their positive and relaxed attitude. In a workplace, this is beyond refreshing. They treated mistakes as opportunities to learn. If something went wrong, their first reaction wasn’t to scold, it was to find a solution.
They are incredibly generous people. Quick to praise and to show appreciation for your efforts. Matt was the new chief of winemaking for my vintage. He frequently orchestrated and cooked breakfasts on the BBQ with all the family, the office, winemaking and the vineyard team. One afternoon we got off a few hours early, had some beers and all made our favourite pizzas using dough from Shelter and Matt’s pizza oven. Those little rewards when you are giving your all physically and mentally during harvest really push you through. Working for Credaro you don’t just feel part of a team, you feel a part of the family.
I would recommend doing a vintage in Margaret River to any of you travelling winemakers. There isn’t another place quite like it. Just follow my tips, and you too will be able to live the sunny Australian dream.
I hope you found this an honest and informative read! Up next week, my Margaret River recommendation guide to top off the Australia mini-series.
See you soon, G x
