Around the world to Tassie to make her mark

WOMEN play an integral role in Tasmanian agriculture and they are often quiet achievers. But that is about to change. Over the next few months, keep an eye out for our series of articles celebrating the sector’s amazing women trailblazers, and telling their stories.

KATE Hill is a respected name in Tasmania’s Huon Valley and the wine industry, thanks to her passion and dedication for winemaking. 

The driving force behind Kate Hill Wines, Kate established the winery in 2008 and is thriving in a field historically dominated by men. 

In 2006, when Kate moved to Tasmania to continue her pursuit of winemaking, she noted Tasmania’s wine industry was very small and that there weren’t too many opportunities around, so she created her own luck and set the stage for the creation of Kate Hill Wines. 

Before venturing into winemaking, Kate had no idea that this would be where she would end up. 

Raised in Melbourne, Kate had a lifelong love for the countryside and a fascination with plants and agriculture, which led her to study a science degree at Melbourne University, majoring in botany and biochemistry. 

After graduating, Kate studied a graduate diploma in tourism marketing. 

“I found that quite interesting, but it was probably not very me,” she said. 

However, soon a class project on Macedon Ranges wineries would ignite her interest. Kate’s exposure to the world of winemaking eventually led her to a job as an assistant at the Victorian Wineries Tourism council. 

During this time, Kate was exposed to many winemakers and found a passion for viticulture, realising that she was able to use a bit of everything she was interested in— plants, agriculture, farming and chemistry. 

“I started doing little short courses just to learn about wine and it was really fun,” she said. 

“I then started doing a bit of wine weekend work just to have a bit more to do with wine, then I started working at the deBortoli cellar door in the Yarrah Valley and was getting more immersed in wineries.” 

A pivotal moment for Kate came when a friend encouraged her to consider a formal winemaking course in Adelaide. 

This decision marked the beginning of her venture into winemaking. “I wasn’t really thinking that I could be a winemaker,” she said, adding that she thought it was something more for older men. 

“But one day I was talking to a friend and she said the course would be perfect and that was when something clicked over for me, and I thought maybe this is what I need to do.” 

Kate soon completed her winemaking course and began travelling around the world gaining experience in wineries. 

As she traveled globally, she did a vintage in Napa Valley, spent six months in Chile’s Maipo Valley and worked in France’s Rhône Valley. 

Her return to Australia saw her working in diverse regions, including Griffith, NSW, where she honed her skills in a high-yielding, bulk-producing environment. 

“Griffith was a really hot area, and after a while I had a long hard think about what I wanted to do and I thought I’d really love to make beautiful sparkling wine and to do that you need a cool climate, so I thought ‘okay, Tasmania it is’.” 

Upon moving to Tasmania, Kate didn’t know she would end up starting her own winery but found that opportunities were limited— so she made her own. 

Although initially hesitant about naming the winery after herself, Kate eventually embraced the idea. 

“My husband was keen on using my name, and that’s what we went with after our original name didn’t work out.” 

The first vintage for Kate Hill Wines came in 2008, a year of personal milestones as Kate married and became pregnant. 

During this time she valued the independence of running her own business. Kate mentioned how she was shocked when results in a Wine Australia report showed that nationally 16 per cent of women are employed in a winemaking role and 21 per cent of Australia’s viticulturalists are women. 

In a male-dominated industry, Kate’s achievement as a well-respected winemaker and small business owner stand out. 

Kate Hill Wines specialises in sparkling wine, Riesling, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Pinot Noir, sourcing grapes from their two Huon Valley vineyards and other fruit growers in southern Tasmania. 

Their wines are crafted in a 19th-century apple cool store and packing shed, converted into a winery by Kate and her husband Charles. Kate oversees all winemaking, with invaluable assistance from her team, including her assistant Ollie. Currently, there are 4ha under vine that will soon be joined by another 4ha for planting, aiming to expand their variety of wines. 

“We will probably put in more Pinot and Chardonnay grapes and maybe a bit of Riesling and Pinot Meunier,” Kate said. 

AS the business develops, Kate is excited about new innovations including an infrared light imported from Belgium to protect vines from frost and autonomous equipment. 

“Things like driverless tractors or sprayers that can go up and down your vineyard can come back with a lot of information and intelligence, like patches that might need more fertilising which is really exciting,” she said. 

Today, Kate Hill Wines focuses on making exceptional wine with meticulous care — from nurturing the vines and the soil to selecting the finest oak barrels. 

“We handle everything by hand, giving our vines lots of TLC and we don’t rush the winemaking process.” 

Despite running a successful winery and Cellar door, Kate says there have been significant challenges over the years, including the devastating bushfires of 2019 and a destructive hailstorm in 2021 which saw a couple of vintages written off completely. 

Kate’s resilience has shone through however and the winery remains a cherished part of the Huon Valley - admired by many.