The Voice takes a look at our best Friday Features published in 2023.
Scotchmans Hill chief winemaker Robin Brockett, 62, has been inducted into the Wine Geelong Hall of Fame. Jena Carr speaks with the Drysdale man about his 35-year winemaking journey, which took him from his birthplace in New Zealand to Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula.
When Robin Brockett was a teenager living in New Zealand, the wine industry was still a young and emerging culture.
Robin first got introduced to winemaking through his mother, who used to make homemade wine, and the industry has had a hold on him ever since.
“I used to help her with making all that and never did I think I’d end up being a wine maker, when I was 13 or 14 making fruit wines with my mother,” he said.
“I started going to an agricultural college studying agricultural finance, and I thought I’d end up working in a bank or something like that.
“After I did one year of the course, I had to do a year practical as part of the degree, and I went and worked on the first vineyard winery in Canterbury, where I’m from in Christchurch.”
After a scholarship led Robin to study at New South Wales’ Charles Sturt University, he moved to Victoria and started working at Scotchmans Hill Winery in 1988.
“When I first came here, there were only three vineyards on the Bellarine Peninsula and no wineries,” he said.
“It’s quite a young industry, and younger people probably think there’s always been vineyards and wineries.
“Wine wasn’t really part of the culture in the 70s or 80s around New Zealand or Australia. It really started to grow in the 80s and boomed in the 90s to where we are today.
“It was more pioneering, and today’s industry is close to four to five times bigger than it was 40 to 50 years ago.
“It’s been a dramatic development in the industry…and it’s something that really boomed through the 90s and 2000s. It looks very different today to what it did back then.”
For 35 years, the 62-year-old chief winemaker has seen the Drysdale winery grow from a small vineyard to a business producing great wines surrounded by a growing industry.
“I thought I’d be here two or three years and 35 years later, I’m still here,” he said.
“When I started here, the vineyards, even though they were young, hadn’t been that well looked after.
“I managed to get those up and going, and then in the 1990s, I started making the wines here at Scotchmans Hill.
“I’ve also had a lot to do with other wineries in the region as a lot of people I have worked with over the years work in other places now. It’s a strong family feeling between all of them.
“If some of the wineries do very well, it helps enhance the reputation of the whole region and helps grow people’s perception.
“There’s no point us making great wine if nobody else does. We’re all competitors, but the better we all do, the better it is for everybody.”
At this year’s Geelong Wine Show annual awards dinner on Friday, November 17, Robin received the honour of being inducted into the Wine Geelong Hall of Fame.
As part of the induction, he will have his name added to the hand-carved honour board on display at the Geelong Cellar Door on Little Malop Street.
“It’s a great privilege and something that’s not given out very often. There’s only been a handful of people that it has occurred too,” he said.
“It’s not every year that someone locally gets that, so it’s something I’m very proud of…and it’s a real recognition of having a part in the development of the industry over the last 30-40 years.
“I have been a part of the progression and development of the industry and have had quite a bit to do with quite a few of the others in the region over that period.
“The industry has really changed a lot to a degree from where I started at the grassroots, and I think I’ve been able to help progress that through to where the industry is today.”
Robin said one of his favourite parts about making wine was seeing people enjoy what he made, and people using the wines for special occasions.
When he isn’t making wine, he said he loved riding the rail trail from Drysdale to Queenscliff and spending time with family.
“I enjoy seeing the change of seasons, getting out in the garden and, I’ve got a couple of grandkids now, so spending time with them and family, that’s what I enjoy the most,” he said.
“Most winemakers think they’ve got the best job in the world. You get to have a lot of fun and travel, but it’s a lot of hard work as well.
“Every year is different as well. We have great years and good years, but because it’s farming, you’re at the mercy of the weather.
“In the last few years, we’ve had a really good run with the quality of wines, but the wines are getting better and better out of this region.
“I’m getting better as I get older…and I don’t see myself retiring as I enjoy what I do too much. I’ve worked with a lot of great people, and that’s probably the most enjoyable thing.”
