Winemaker of the Month
Iain Riggs
Editor’s note
I first met Iain Riggs in 1984 at the Brokenwood Winery on my first tour of the Hunter
Valley. He had just began to stamp his authority at Brokenwood and I was captivated
by his openness and charm - his lovely Vietnamese wife and his daughter, who must
have been about two years old at the time - not to mention a stunning Sémillon which
almost blew my mind and a Chardonnay which was not bad kit either. It took a while
for Brokenwood to be recognised internationally and for a long time I felt that wines
were seriously underestimated. I am sure that his daughter has grown up to be a lovely
young lady and simultaneously Brokenwood has come to be recognised as one of the
finest wine producers in Australia, thanks to the skills of Iain Riggs.
It’s some years since I last visited the Hunter Valley, but our contributor, Sarah
Ahmed, was lucky enough to attend their 40th anniversary party and here is her report.
Last October I attended Brokenwood’s 40th anniversary party. Founded in 1970 by three
Sydney solicitors, Tony Albert, John Beeston and James Halliday, the winery got off
to an unconventional start as the self-professed hobby winemakers “carted” (or should
that be cartiered?!?!?) their first harvest back to the winery in buckets in the
back seat of Len Evans’ Bentley!
The iconic Hunter Valley winery really started to hit its straps in 1982 following
the arrival of Iain Leslie Riggs, Managing Director, Chief Winemaker and these days
part owner of Brokenwood. Up until then, Brokenwood had only produced red wines,
but Riggs was dead set on making premium white wines and, within a year of his arrival,
production was focused 70% on white wine!
In 1992, Brokenwood celebrated Riggs’ contribution with the launch of ILR Reserve
Semillon, its flagship Semillon, so it seems fitting to kick off my report of Brokenwood’s
40th anniversary celebrations with my notes of a vertical tasting of this wine. You’ll
find them on my Australia Regional Report page here, together with Riggs’ comments
on how ILR came about and his detailed notes on each vintage (1992-2010).
You’ll also see that, until 2003 when ILR was bottled under screwcap, the flight
was dogged with closure (cork) problems, prompting Riggs to observe “the golden years
of Semillon are ahead of us.” Lucky us.
Iain Riggs
