Meet the Makers – Chris Hatcher, Wolf Blass Part 2

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Hatch! Part 2

Read the enthralling and occasionally hilarious Hatch, Part 1 here. Or skim this hasty précis...

Born in Adelaide in the 1950s, young Chris Hatcher relishes life in the slow lane – attending Sunday School and enjoying alcohol-free shindigs with his devoutly Methodist parents. Introduced to wine by a church-going friend as a teen, Hatch experiences a happy epiphany: Wine tastes good! Even better – it doesn’t necessarily lead directly to perdition. Later, studying for his science degree, Hatch takes a year away from the books, scoring a job at the Australian Wine Research Institute. A flame is lit; the die is cast.

Hatch starts his winemaking career at Kaiser Stuhl, making white wines and sparklings, then at the age of 27, lands the role of Senior Winemaker at Orlando. But Wolfgang Blass is sniffing about, and after several years of Blass-badgering, Hatch finally relents and joins the team. It looks like a good job, and he reckons it’ll do for a couple of years...

WD: Thirty-four years! That's a big chunk of anybody's life...

CH: Yes, but to be honest, I would have left if I'd got bored. It's been an incredible ride. The changes in the Australian industry, and the incredible growth in the company... it’s been a really exciting time to be involved in wine, and with Wolf Blass in particular.

WD: What was it like, working with Wolf?

CH: Well, he’s probably one of the most unique people in the wine industry. Wolf had a completely different approach to wine. His view was that wine’s fun, and it should be promoted in a fun way. He knew that most people didn’t want to buy a wine that needed to be cellared for 20 years, so he made wines that were pleasurable for people to drink straight away. That kind of thinking really reflected the changes that were going on in society at the time, and he was spot on. And for me, getting an understanding that it's not just about making wines, it's about making wines that you can market to people, and that they really enjoy drinking – that’s what I loved.

WD: Was he a marketing genius?

CH: Oh, he was! I'm not sure it came out of the textbook in any way shape or form because he definitely isn't the textbook type, but Wolf understands people. He loves having fun in his life, and he figures everyone else wants the same.

WD: Was he fun to work with...?

CH: Certainly. But he also had very high expectations. Coming second is not an option...

Hatch gleefully relates a story about Wolf handing his staff hats emblazoned with a fruitily phrased slogan on the unacceptability of second place. WineDown has reluctantly agreed not to disclose the specifics. But we sure wish we had one of those hats.

CH: He is an incredibly hard worker. The guy just doesn’t stop. He’s 86 now and he's still got things on the go everywhere.

WD: A hard taskmaster?

CH: No question about it, but we got on well and he respected my work. By the early 1990s I'd been promoted to GM, winemaking – so I was making the whites and also managing the reds. Then I became Chief Winemaker of the group in 1996.

WD: What does a Chief Winemaker actually do? Are you still making wine, or more managing the team?

CH: Good question. The reality is that being Chief Winemaker is more like being Head Chef – you’re guiding styles and mentoring people and making sure they have everything they need to do their very best work. I spend a lot of my time on the tasting bench, assessing what other people have done and then helping them with that...

This is borne out in WineDown’s recent interview with Seppelt Chief Winemaker, Clare Dry, who referred often to the fine mentorship she received during her years under Hatch’s watchful eye.

CH: But interestingly, this last vintage, I went back and worked as the vintage winemaker – getting my hands dirty and running the white fermentations with the white winemaking team... all the things that I did when I first came into the industry. I was working six days a week full-on, and thoroughly enjoying it.

WD: So, the passion is still there?

CH: There’s nothing like Vintage. You're being challenged by every decision you make: When to pick... what yeast to use... which fermentation techniques... how you’ll make the wine. All of those decisions are absolutely key to the end product. And I love that.

WD: So how is vintage 2021 looking for WB?

CH: Well, obviously the whites will be stunning.

WD: Goes without saying. How ‘bout the reds?

CH: Somewhere between fabulous and spectacular... as usual.

WD: So, they’re already blended?

CH: No. The way we do it at Blass is that we have an overall plan to make so much Grey Label and so much Black Label and so on. In the back of our minds, we’re thinking okay, this vineyard suits this style and potentially could go into that wine, but once we get stuck into vintage, we’re just making single vineyard wines. We don’t blend them straight away, but we allocate them to Black Label or Grey Label (or whatever), and mature them as individual parcels. Then, when they come out of oak in 18 months or so, we make the final blend. Everyone thinks that once vintage is finished, it's all over but that's actually when the hard work starts.

WD: WB sources fruit from all of the major South Australian regions, which constitutes hundreds of different sites. How on earth do you do that? Who’s across all those parcels of fruit?

CH: It’s a team effort. We have viticulturists and grower liaison officers who all work closely with the growers to deliver the quality and style of fruit we need. And we allocate winemakers to regions. So, someone will look after McLaren Vale, someone else Barossa... Langhorne Creek and so on.

WD: How have things changed over the years?

CH: The relationship between grower and winemaker is probably the biggest change I’ve seen. If you look back to when Wolf first started in the early 60s, most vineyard owners were mixed farmers, and the understanding of grape growing wasn't anything like what it is now. So, winemakers would use things like oak and fermentation techniques to fill those gaps where the fruit might be lacking. In Wolf's case, he used a lot of American oak to give plushness and softness and richness on the palate, but today we don't need to do that. We get all that in the vineyard, thanks to the close relationship between growers and winemakers.

WD: WD: OK. Let’s talk about you. Pleasure Maker?

A laugh from Hatch.

CH: I can’t blame anybody else for that. It was at one of those corporate meetings. You had to put in a photo of yourself with a quote, and my quote was I’m a Pleasure Maker.

WD: And how did that go down?

CH: Well, let’s say it aroused some comments. But it’s a fact. What we do is to give people pleasure... relaxation, conversation. Wine is a great vehicle for people to really enjoy life. I’m proud to be a Pleasure Maker.

One can only imagine what Hatch’s parents would have thought.

WD: You have two adult kids, both of whom are in the wine biz?

CH: Yes, I used to take them to work with me on Sundays, and we’d do the fermentation round together. I’d taste the wines and set the temperatures and all that, so they got involved at a fairly early age. I certainly didn’t push them toward the industry, but they gravitated to it. My son’s a viticulturalist and my daughter’s a wine marketer.

WD: And there’s a loving wife of 40-something years...

CH: Forty-seven. February the 9th, 1974.

WD: That’s impressive. How does she feel about your other love?

CH: Ahhhhh yes... She’s remarkably supportive.

WD: How did it start?

CH: Sunday School. One day, my Sunday School teacher rocked up in a brand-new Jaguar, and I remember peering through the window at the walnut dash and all the gauges and toggle switches and I was just blown away.

WD: Is it about speed?

CH: It’s about styling. The curves and that componentry. I always want to own one, and now I do. I'm restoring a 1959 Jaguar, Mark II.

WD: You mean, literally, YOU are restoring it?

CH: No, I’m paying other people to do it. Leave it to the experts. If you haven't got the right expertise, you can do more damage than good. I think that applies to most things in life, including restoring old cars.

WD: And winemaking!

CH: And conducting interviews!

WD: Chris Hatcher, thank you.

CH: It’s been a pleasure.

Footnote: It’s all in the timing. WineDown spoke with Hatch in late June. Just days later, he (along with WB senior winemaker, Steven Frost) was awarded IWC Red Winemaker of the year, for the Wolf Blass Grey Label McLaren Vale Shiraz 2019. It’s the second time that Chris and Steven have been jointly awarded; the fourth time that Chris has received the accolade.