Kate Goodman of Penley Selected by Halliday Wine Companion
| Kate Goodman of Penley Estate Named Winemaker of the Year Australian winemaker continues a tradition of audacious women making waves Old Bridge Cellars is excited to share that Kate Goodman, head winemaker for Penley Estate in Coonawarra, South Australia, is selected “Winemaker of the Year 2024” by Halliday Wine Companion – Australia’s most respected wine authority. In her selection, Kate blazes a trail as the first winemaker leading a Coonawarra winery to be chosen, and only the third woman to be named Halliday’s Winemaker of the Year since their Awards began in 2010. The Penley winery was also shortlisted as Halliday’s Winery of the Year, and is the only winery from the Coonawarra region in this year’s award nominees. “What Kate Goodman is achieving at Penley is quite astonishing,” said chief editor Campbell Mattinson. “It’s rare – if not unheard of – that a winery do everything well. And yet somehow Kate is producing everything from the avant garde to the traditional to an exceptional standard. The Penley cabernet sauvignons are now as brilliant as they are bold, but then she’s also putting out innovative product after innovative product. She’s obviously getting people excited about Penley but I’d also go so far as to say that she’s turning people on to Coonawarra itself.” The Award category of ‘Winemaker of the Year’ recognizes best winemaking practice, and the significance, and importance, of the stamp the person has or is making on the Australian wine landscape. “Kate’s investment in our family’s vision is what has fed our evolution into creating some spectacular contemporary wines,” said co-owner Ang Tolley. “Kate’s leadership, together with viticulturist, Hans Loder feels as though we have taken an almighty breath of fresh Coonawarra air and we are totally inspired to continue to push boundaries and create.” For Goodman, the Award is further evidence that the trajectory the wines are on is the right one. “Since the beginning, Bec and Ang Tolley have given me the complete support and encouragement to turn things on their head, and push to the point of failure to really work out what our vineyards can do. That’s incredibly rare and offers me and our team the opportunity to create great things. She continued, “winning this award and being shortlisted for Winery of the Year is recognition and confirmation that we are on the right path, and we don’t have to keep second guessing ourselves.” Old Bridge Cellars is the exclusive importer of Penley Estate to the USA, since 1995. About Winemaker Kate Goodman: With University Degrees in both Biomedical Science and Oenology, Kate spent her early winemaking years in McLaren Vale, Great Western and the Yarra Valley, before returning to South Australia in 2016 with Penley. Recognized for the highly successful Phoenix Cabernet Sauvignon, Kate’s remarkable innovation with traditional varieties and regional sourcing is reflected in the winery’s more adventurous field blends, extended-skin-contact reds and preservative-free releases. Dividing her time between the Penley winery in Coonawarra and the Tolley’s family office in McLaren Vale, Kate’s embrace of her freedom to create shows in the success of the diverse and adventurous wines she crafts. About Penley: South Australian wine history is indelibly linked to the Tolley and Penfolds families. In 1945, the marriage of Adelaide wine personalities, Judith Penfold Hyland and Reginald Lester Tolley, led to the creation of ‘Penley’ as a playful, hypothetical hybrid business name. However, it wasn’t until 1988 that the name truly came to fruition when their children, Kym, Ang, and Bec, united to embark on the modern era of Penfolds (Pen) and Tolley (Ley) winemaking, establishing Penley Estate in Coonawarra, South Australia. In 1995, the siblings built a modern winery in Coonawarra, making benchmark wines but Kym’s retirement from winemaking in 2015 posed a critical decision – to continue the winery or consider other options. Inspired by their mother, Judith Penfold Tolley, and grandmother, Mary Penfold, (of Penfolds Magill Estate), sisters Ang and Bec Tolley forged ahead, appointing current head winemaker Kate Goodman to help catapult the Penley winery into the future. For more information and wines available in the US, please visit our Penley Brand Page, for a Gallery of Images, a Brand Page download, and a list of available wines with companion data. About Old Bridge Cellars: Old Bridge Cellars imports, produces and markets wines from a handful of independent wineries in the world’s leading wine regions. Our portfolio, while anchored in Australia, boasts 200 different wines from 26 lauded winemaking regions across the globe. For more information, please visit About Us. |