A day in the life of: Viticulturist Dr Cath Kidman

It’s often said that great wine is made in the vineyard, and after talking to Wynns Coonawarra Estate viticulturist Dr Cath Kidman, it’s clear that doesn’t just happen by chance. In Cath’s case, it involves a huge passion for working with vines and ensuring they’re the healthiest they can be – from planting, pruning and nurturing their growth and structure, to driving industry-leading research projects and trialling new clones, varieties and cutting-edge technology. It’s all about getting the highest-quality grapes to the winemaking team each year, and the way Cath talks about it has us seriously considering a new career path. 

The climate crisis is already impacting the wine industry, and we know it’s only going to get worse. Cath’s pioneering work in leading the sustainability charge has seen her collect a number of accolades over the years, including two coveted Viticulturist of the Year titles. In her role at this iconic South Australian winery, Cath is tasked with taking these historic vines – or as she calls them, “grand old dames” – well into the future.  

It’s rare to hear someone rave about their job as much as Cath does, let alone after spending more than 10 years in the role. “It’s quite amazing to work for Wynns. For me, it’s top of the pops! And I work with such an amazing team – all our pursuits are focused on the quality of the vineyard,” she says. It also helps that the job brings together her various loves – science, nature and creativity. “I’m continuously asking questions and being surprised by the vines, and then I get to go outside and play in the vines and soils, and these worlds collide.”   

With just one shot at growing and making wine each year, viticulture involves a lot of quick thinking. “You’re very beholden to climate and weather, with a lot of thinking on your feet and problem solving,” Cath says. That means assessing rain forecasts, weather patterns and other risks, and then pivoting to ensure, for example, that the vines’ canopies, or foliage, are best prepped for the conditions. “There’s a lot of outside work, checking how the vines are looking and growing, and then validating that with data.”  

As well as the day-to-day care for the vines, Cath is responsible for driving long-term, ongoing research. Throughout her career, she’s led significant trials and projects that haven’t only sparked breakthroughs for Wynns (or wherever she was working at the time), but also the wider Australian wine industry. Right now, the Wynns team is capturing data on water infiltration rates of the various soils across their vineyards. As Cath laughs about the fact that her shorts are often wet – this project involves placing water buckets with holes in them under the vines and tracking the results as it drips into the soil – it’s obvious her work doesn’t just live in the lab. “We’re custodians of some amazing old vineyards, so we want to get a holistic view to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, and what makes them so unique,” she says. “It’s about setting them up to continue to be superior well into the future.” 

In addition, savvy new technologies are helping to evolve traditional viticultural practices. Heat mapping via drone-captured thermographic images is just one example; it can reveal when specific vines need irrigation, taking some of the guesswork out of the process. Cath believes there will be many more significant technological advancements across the industry, especially involving AI autonomy.

Viticulturists work so closely with vines they get to know them in intimate ways. After all, there’s a point in the growing season when the team goes out to physically count the flowers and bunches of grapes on each vine to estimate the coming vintage’s yields. “The vines all have their own personality in terms of how they handle water stress – they’re either optimists or pessimists,” Cath says. 

“Shiraz will always show its feelings and tell you very quickly when it’s stressed by lilting and curling its leaves a bit. They can also become a bit yellow, so you know when you need to water these babies,” she says. Cabernet, however, is a pessimist, according to Cath. “These vines will shut their stomata [cell structures] at the first sign of stress. They look like they’re holding up okay, but they’re actually screaming ‘It’s really bloody hot!’ and try to bunker down and do it all on their own.” 

Understanding the vines and when they need water is just part of the puzzle to ensure the final wine is of the best possible quality. “It can all impact on tannin structure and flavour spectrum, so we want to know how thirsty the vines are, which is why we’re playing around with so many different techniques.”  

Back in 2016, Cath and the team noticed a handful of cabernet vines in their Johnsons Vineyard were performing extremely well in hot conditions, while many vines on the same site were looking tired. As a result, the team discovered the thriving vines were naturally adapting to warmer conditions and becoming more drought tolerant, so they cloned them. 

The resulting baby vines have since been planted out and the team is monitoring their progress to determine whether they’ve inherited the same resilience against the warming, drying climate – one of the most significant challenges hitting the wine world and wider agricultural industry. “We have to prepare for a warmer, drier climate, where water will be even more precious, so we’re looking to the vineyard to help us answer those questions,” she says. “How amazing would it be if we could have a Wynns clone that’s drought tolerant and still able to grow beautiful cabernet? Vines are way smarter than us. We think we’re the intelligent species, but nature is all over this.” 

While many people in wine tend to be born into the industry (cue childhood tales of running through vineyards and winery chores), Cath doesn’t come from a winemaking family. For Cath, it was her long-held fascination with plants and nature that lured her into the job. “I’d pull the stamens off lilies and watch the pollen go everywhere. Flowers have always really impressed me with how unique and crazy they are,” she says. 

After stumbling across a viticulture course at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, Cath pursued the degree. “I just loved it,” she recalls. “It turned on all the lightbulbs for me and I thought it was awesome.” A cadetship came next in north-west Victoria’s Mildura, where Cath got a taste of research life studying flowering and fruit set in vines. “It was a really fun and super-exciting project. I got the bug!”  

An inspirational stint followed at T’Gallant on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, where founders Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy were still involved and became mentors – not least for showing her that both family and career were possible (the couple has five kids). From there, Cath moved to South Australia where she took a little side-step, working with potatoes and apples. “It’s like how listening to different music can change your perception and outlook. I think it’s important to cross-pollinate with different industries to get a better understanding of how your own works,” she says. 

A later gig at Adelaide’s Vine Health Australia immersed Cath in the complexities of rootstocks – the base and root sections of vines – where she investigated why some are more drought-tolerant than others, with better flowering and fruit set capabilities. Cath loved this project so much, she ended up doing a related PhD. “It was so good to be across all the research and literature, and to be the expert on the topic at the time. I loved having that deep understanding,” she says.