When Steve Dodd was offered the job as winemaker at Kladis Estate, he jumped at the opportunity. He knew it would be an exciting challenge after a career working for some of the industry’s big guns.

It also gave him the opportunity to return to the NSW South Coast.

Steve, an experienced and highly talented winemaker grew up in Warilla, spending much of his youth on the beaches around Shellharbour.

He migrated to Australia as a young boy with his parents from the United Kingdom.

Steve went to school at Warilla High, but as a teenager followed a young female friend to the Hunter Valley.
There he began working as a casual cellar hand at Saxonvale winery.

Within ten years the boy from Warilla had gone from cellar hand to winery manager.

Steve studied oenology at Charles Sturt University and went on to become a high profile winemaker in his own right.

It was during these days that he was noticed by industry heavyweights, the McGuigan family.
But Steve later moved to Orlando and became bottled wine manager at the historic Wyndam Estate site in the Hunter.

He was also involved heavily with the Montrose label but by 1997 Orlando had cut back on its Hunter production.

“So I took the opportunity with a few mates and became involved in a winery project called Pigs Peake, which was built from the ground up. It was very much a hands on project.....small with high quality wines but it was draining.”

Steve rekindled his relationship with the McGuigan family in 2002 when he was approached by Neil McGuigan to join the boutique winery Briar Ridge.

It was there he first met Jim and Niki Kladis whose wines were being made under contract by the talented young winemaker Adrian Lockhardt, who later moved to Hazelgrove.

“Adrian had crushed the very first Kladis vintage, the 2002 Shiraz and after his departure I moved in and played a big part in their production. Jim’s desire to make his venture work, revolved around getting a winemaker, and so they offered me the job and I accepted."

Steve, a master Chardonnay maker, has made several good wines at Kladis, amongst these the 2005 “Dion” Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon which recently won an International Gold Medal in 2007 AWC – Vienna and the 2004 Wandandian Merlot which won Silver in the same competition. ( AWC-Vienna is the second largest wine competition in the world, this year there were 6109 entries from 31 countries).

With Steve at the helm, the wines at Kladis Estate will only get better!