Sue Hodder, Wynns Coonawarra Estate, official legend of Australian wine

Written By Campbell Mattinson

The day Sue Hodder was appointed as a winemaker at Wynns Coonawarra Estate was a great day for Australian wine. Hodder has been a gift – arguably the single greatest gift – to Australian wine lovers ever since. She’s made wine at this historic Coonawarra winery since 1992, and as head winemaker since 1998. She inherited a winery of renown, no doubt, but she also inherited a winery that wasn’t the biggest fish in its own company pond. Somehow, whether against the odds or not, she has made sure that the wines produced from this winery have remained at the top of the Australian quality tree. The wines she oversees have evolved but never – not once – wavered.

I wrote the above words for Halliday Wine Companion, during my tenure as its chief editor. These words were part of the introduction to Hodder’s entry into the Halliday Hall of Fame. Hodder is a celebrated winemaker but by rights she should yet be celebrated more. She is a modern day Australian wine legend. She has also, it must be acknowledged, been assisted over a long period of time by assistant winemaker Sarah Pidgeon. Pidgeon is a hero in her own right; she’s the deputy everyone would love to have.

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The above image – of Sue Holder, chief winemaker at Wynns Coonawarra Estate – was taken at a vertical tasting of Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon held in Adelaide. Wine writer Tony Love is in the foreground.

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Wynns Coonawarra Estate is a Mattinson 10-Star winery.

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The legendary Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1982 is reviewed here.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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