South Australian winemaker Charlotte Hardy wins Young Gun of Wine award

In a year that SA Tourism has proclaimed the Year of South Australian Wine, a local winemaker has taken the coveted top gong in a national search for the best emerging winemakers.

Balancing motherhood, a wine brand, and a busy cellar door is challenging at the best of times, especially during a global pandemic, but winemaker Charlotte Hardy’s heartfelt approach to life and wine has earned her the top gong in a national wine competition.

The 15th annual Young Gun of Wine Awards were announced in Adelaide today and virtually streamed across the nation.

The search for emerging talent puts a spotlight on creative, forward thinking mavericks of the wine industry. Of the top 50 finalists, 21 were from South Australia, 17 from Victoria, four New South Wales and ACT, four from Tasmania, three from Western Australia, and one from Queensland.

Of the six trophies up for grabs, three went to South Australian producers.

The major 2021 Young Gun of Wine award went to Ms Hardy’s Charlotte Dalton Wines, the Winemaker’s Choice award went to Barossa-based Sigurd, and McLaren Vale’s Alpha Box & Dice won the People’s Choice award.

Winemaker Charlotte Hardy from Charlotte Dalton Wines with her Project 5255 Fiano, at her winery and cellar door at Factory 9, Port Elliot, SA. Picture: Emma Brasier

Meanwhile, Tasmania’s Marco Lubiana won Best New Act; Victoria’s Wilimee was awarded the Vigneron award, and Melbourne chef and vermouth producer Dave Verheul won the Danger Zone award for his Saison Vermouth ‘Blackcurrant Leaf’.

The judging process was intense. Earlier this year, wine writer Nick Stock, Young Gun of Wine founder Rory Kent and a panel of high-profile industry leaders tasted their way through wines made by entrants from the far corners of Australia.

The accolade is yet another feather in the cap for Ms Hardy who was a top 12 finalist in the national 2017 Young Gun of Wine Awards and her 2018 Charlotte Dalton Wines Eliza Pinot Noir took out the annual Hot 100 competition, declaring it the most drinkable wine of 2018/19.

She puts heart and soul into the Charlotte Dalton winery and cellar door she runs with her partner Ben Cooke (of Cooke Brothers Wines) on the rugged coast of Port Elliot, South Australia.

Her wines are beautifully executed and full of heart. Many are inspired by and named after her mother, who died of uterine cancer in 2014.

Like the Charlotte Dalton 2017 Beyond the Horizon Shiraz (which won gold at the 2019 Adelaide Hills Wine Show) which was named after the song played at her mother’s funeral. And the 2018 Love Me, Love You Shiraz (Best Wine of Show, Best Shiraz of Show and Best Single Vineyard Wine of Show – Adelaide Hills Wine Show), named after the words her mother whispered every night before bed. “She’d say, ‘Love you, love me’ and we’d say, ‘Love me, love you,’ back,” Ms Hardy says.

She is also a champion of collaboration. She was the first winemaker chosen to take part in the Guroo project, which brings Kangaroo Island fruit and exciting mainland winemakers together, and also worked with fiano during Langhorne Creek’s inaugural Project 5255.

The future is bright. Earlier this month, the couple won Alexandrina Council’s Economic Development Recovery Grant, which means a total revamp of their cellar door, located in The Joinery at Factory 9, a creative hub on the outskirts of town.

“My wines are part of me, so it’s so nice to talk about the wine with the people who visit,” Ms Hardy says.

Her long-term dream is to own a vineyard. Until then, trusted growers mean everything to her.

“The relationship with the people that grow the fruit is so important,” she says.

“I like to use fruit from places or regions that don’t require too much tinkering. It’s got to be about what’s out there in the vineyard.”