Meet the People of the Clare Valley
Meet the People of the Clare Valley, brought to you by one of our locals, Annabelle Homer.
The 'Voice It' podcast is about showcasing talented people in the Clare Valley and across the Mid North of South Australia. Meet the people who have started with nothing and developed successful brands, names and businesses through sheer grit and determination. Hear the personal stories of artists, photographers, financial planners, winemakers, chefs and engineers who have made a difference to their local community.
Meet a very talented Clare Valley 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 to the winemaking path.
Kerri’s story starts at 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 making wines that express spirit of place and enjoyment.
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Meet Marnie Roberts, the owner/winemaker at Matriarch and Rogue in the Clare Valley, South Australia.
As well as her quick wit and dry sense of humour, she makes beautiful wine, carving quite a following in wine circles and beyond.
She is originally from Mildura, growing up on a block with her parents and older brother Tony where they grew citrus, dried fruit and wine grapes. She felt like a workhorse in her youth and didn't particularly enjoy 'block life', and little did she know she would be as ‘busy as a termite in a sawmill’ running her own successful wine enterprise 30 years later. She moved to South Australia and set up stumps in the Clare Valley back in 2008. Six years later, she established her own label, Matriarch and Rogue, inspired by her dear old Nanna.
Marnie describes herself as a floater, with no solid plan and not overly ambitious, but what she lacks in planning she makes up for in drive, determination and basically being a 'lucky bastard'.
I sat down with Marnie in her shed on a cold wintry day with the rain pounding on the roof, sharing a Subway salad and a bottle of her finest red.
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Meet the lady behind Bukirk Glamping, Alison 'Chook' Meaney who wanted to create a new tourism experience to draw people to the Clare Valley.
She thought if people were glamping in England, they'll glamp in Clare surely?!!!
She was right! She's been run off her feet since she started the fancy tent project back in 2018.
Before running her own glamping project, Chook lived a nomadic life, first travelling the world, then living the FIFO life in remote Australia.
In this podcast, she reflects on her life growing up in Horsham, Victoria, where her dad trained race horses, to her days living on Barrow Island off the coast of Western Australia.
You will find out why she's called 'Chook' and why her business is called Bukirk!! Big hint...it's all related!!!!
Chook is hard working and a seriously entertaining lady! She tells some absolute cracker stories about some of her guests, the challenges associated with running a glamping operation, and the joy she feels when she reads all the glowing reviews.