The first time I met Corrina Wright, she was done up in Viking garb and grinning like a Cheshire cat. It was Melbourne’s inaugural Game of Rhônes tasting, a celebration of all things Grenache, Shiraz et al, and one of those too-rare wine events where a cheerful disposition is de rigueur. But even Corrina’s resting b***h face is probably a big, warm smile. Injustice and inanity are enough to wipe it off, but only for as long as it takes for her to speak up, pitch in and set it straight.

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Corrina’s ancestors, William and Elizabeth Oliver, left Scotland for McLaren Vale in late 1839 and established two properties that remain in family hands. Corrina Wright (née Rayment) is a member of the sixth generation to work the land here, and the first to make wine under the family label, Oliver’s Taranga. It’s a full family affair, with several relatives involved in the business, including her cousin Brioni Oliver. Together, they produce a range of first-rate wines, from McLaren Vale’s red staples of Shiraz and Grenache to an array of modern iterations of alternative varieties that have found such a happy home in this beautiful area’s warm Mediterranean climate.

One of those grapes is the Campanian native white, Fiano, and we spoke in the week preceding Australia’s first-ever Fiano Day. Corrina was the spearhead for this informal celebration of an increasingly popular vine variety.

As you listen to the interview, you’ll learn not to be surprised to see Corrina leading from the front. We talk about the many community roles she takes on. She is the president of the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show (AAVWS) committee, and regular listeners will have heard me discuss this movement with the likes of Jeff Porter, Kim Chalmers and Max Allen. She is also on the action board of Australian Women in Wine. We discuss this organisation and its own awards, an initiative begun by Jane Thomson OAM, founder of The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society.

Corrina has also served on the boards of the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, McLaren Vale Grape, Wine & Tourism Association and the Australian Society of Viticulture & Oenology. In other acroynym news, she was ASVO Winemaker of the Year in 2019, and still sits on the board of the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI), which runs the Advanced Wine Assessment Course (Awac). We discuss Awac in the section about training your palate.

Corrina talks about studying at Roseworthy, an institution that has come up in many of these podcasts—not least with PJ Charteris, who also gives further insight into Southcorp, Penfolds and Karadoc. Among Corrina’s cohort were the likes of Pete Fraser (Yangarra), Andy Coppard (Lino Ramble), Tony and Briony Hoare (Beach Road Wines), Ben Glaetzer (Glaetzer Wines) and Sue Bell (Bellwether). She also studied at UC Davis in the US, where she came into the orbit of chemical engineer Roger Boulton, sensory scientist Ann Noble, and Nick Dokoozlian of Californian wine giant Gallo. Another American mentioned is the hugely influential critic, Robert Parker, founder of The Wine Advocate.

Somewhat more leftfield is the superb story of Corrina’s Ihana wine collaboration with Finnish F1 driver Valtteri Bottas.

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