Stonehaven Winemakers

Susanne Bell - The Winemaker
Susanne Bell has been at Padthaway's Stonehaven winery for almost five years, and in 2004 was named Senior Winemaker/ Manager of the 10,000-tonne capacity winery.

After completing a Bachelor of Science in Oenology at the University of Adelaide, Susanne worked in numerous wine regions including McLaren Vale, Port Macquarie, the Pyrenees in Victoria, Angle Vale in South Australia, Mildura, Great Western in Victoria, the Barossa and Coonawarra.

Susanne is now focused on cool climate fruit from the Limestone Coast region, namely Padthaway (Stonehaven has a 452ha vineyard), Coonawarra, Wrattonbully and the Elgin Valley. Her passion is to make a great Cabernet!

Her responsibilities cover daily management of the winery; up to 45 winery and administration personnel; stylistically overseeing red and white winemaking and liaising with the vineyard managers and growers to pick fruit at peak flavor ripeness.

Susanne has also been the driver of Stonehaven's popular new laboratory-style berry tasting sessions for growers, viticulturists and essentially anyone else interested in learning more about flavor development and the critical relationship between the grape on the vine and the wine in the bottle. This is based on the ICV Berry sensory methods of Jacques Rousseau.

Susanne's other great passion is scuba diving in the ponds and off the coastline of the Limestone Coast, and a recent visit to the Galapagos Islands, after gaining her certification in Monterey Bay during the 2002 Vintage at Blackstone Winery, California.

Susanne's ambition at Stonehaven is to help establish the brand as an uncompromising benchmark of quality and complexity. In her own enthusiastic words, "Interesting wines that drink well and still impress the boffins!"

Her quiet moments are spent in the vegetable garden listening to music with her chocolate Labrador, Jackson