My guest this week is a very talented woman who has been described as Australia’s Riesling Queen.
Kerri Thompson has been making wine in South Australia’s Clare Valley for more than 20 years, founding her winery, Wines by KT in 2006.
KT grew up by the beach at Glenelg, but spent a lot of time in the mid north at her grandmother’s farm at Black Springs near Robertstown. So this beach loving girl always had some affinity with the land, which could partly explain why she went down the winemaking path.
It wasn't planned. You could say she was flying blind. But the one thing that she did want to do. was get to Italy, and working in the wine industry was going to get her there.
KT's story starts at the Roseworthy Agricultural College as a young 17-year-old girl about to embark on a career in a male-dominated industry. It wasn't easy being the youngest in her year, or a female for that matter, but despite sailing through some rough seas, KT has come out the other end as one of the country's top Riesling makers.