mylifestylenews: 《6 Minutes @ Sam Kurtz》

2012-04-20

《6 Minutes @ Sam Kurtz》

Sam Kurtz, a Barossa valley grown up boy who turned himself to be a winemaker from a potential engineer, loves his wine and decided to make it as his profession in winemaking brought with him some limited edition Jacob's Creek true character wines to Hong Kong and together with wine distributor Pernod Ricard host a wine dinner recently. mylifestylenews spent an delightful evening with Kurtz and discover more of Jacob's Creek vintages......

I am one the sixth generation Barossa boys who grew up running around at the vineyards and got the influence from its beautiful landscape and the wineries production amazed me for wanting to become a winemaker someday.

I went to school and obtained a engineering degree and realised that it wasn't really what I like best and before being drawn back into the fold. A short spell on a bottling line and a subsequent vintage in the Barossa led me to a degree in winemaking at Roseworthy Agricultural College in South Australia.

In 1992, I took up a Assistant Winemaker position for Orlando in Griffith, NSW followed by a stint in the Sonoma Valley in California.

I needed to get a different perspective on things, this then led me to the role of White Winemaker for Orlando at Rowland Flat, even though I was more interested in the red winemaking side of the business.

I was then decided to spend more time in overseas to learn more about winemaking, I headed to Hungary and spent a couple of years here and there in Lake Balaton area. It was an interesting but challenging winemaking experience.

In 1997, I took the role of Senior Winemaker at Jacob's Creek across red wines and then followed by Group Red Winemaker in 2000.

My responsibilty includes of all aspects of the winemaking process, from monitoring the grapes in the vineyards, recommending the best viticulture practices for wines such as Jacob’s Creek St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and Jacob’s Creek Centenary Hill Shiraz and mentoring the winemaking team. The constant juggling of the roles makes for a complex role and I am enjoying every minute of it.

Orlando is a very innovative company, there’s a lot going on as we move forward and it makes for a very interesting work environment.

The addition of alternative varieties through the Jacob’s Creek Three Vines range has added further interest to my role and provided me the opportunity to recently do a vintage in Spain to learn more about the Tempranillo grape.

Many years ago, there were lots of bad wine production, it is all has to go back to the history background and the culture of the region/country. People's spending power for getting a bottle of wine for a normal consumption instead of valuing the wine being made and how much they can afford to spend. Thus, the appreciation of wine were different from now and today the wine enthusiast are willing to spend more money on some good production wine. The taste and the hehavior of the demand and supply from the consumer makes the different in producing good and bad wines.

China is the key market without any questions for many wine producers. Wine education is essential for the consumer to understand the history background, the region, culture and subtibility and the style of the wine being produced.

When I am not on site at the winery, I will be travelling the world as a respected wine judge and spreading the good word on all things Jacob’s Creek.

When I choose my wine, I usually go for the food that I gonna have to pair with the wines, the price range, the characteristic of the region, the personality in the wine and the comfortable knowledge of the wine. The packaging does make an appeal but it is not the main criteria.

My ideal living lifestyle is surrounded by good food, good wine, good company in a good location at all times.

My current state of mind is with a lot of anticipation from the wine dinner tonight and hoping for a good response.