Up Close + Personal With Callie Jemmeson

With AWIWA finalist fever upon us, we wanted to get a few comments from Callie in response to this huge accolade. The result.... well, let's just say we got a bit off track and we're glad we did. We know a lot more about this girl now!

Tell us your view on the AWIWA. Why is it a positive for women in the wine industry?
There's nothing more frustrating than standing behind a stand at a wine tasting passionately telling the story of your wines sitting in front of you only to be told "you must have a very busy/talented winemaker". It's assumed that men are the winemakers. The women are there to sell it.

I know plenty of talented inspiring male winemakers so this is no attack on them. I praise and support their work.

The Australian Women in Wine Awards is all about giving women a voice in a male dominated industry. Giving them the acknowledgement and praise that is often overshadowed by the more confident and sometimes intimidating male counterparts.

It's important that we boost women up. I know that my biggest struggle has been believing that I'm good enough to be in the position I'm in now. It’s all luck, I haven’t earned it. I hear this a lot within my own groups of girlfriends – it’s not an uncommon feeling. The AWIWA puts these sometimes much quieter achievers at the forefront and recognises their incredible achievements.

How do you feel about being an award finalist?
An email came through at some crazy hour of the morning and naturally (when you run a business) before you can even see properly you scroll your emails and check what’s on for the day. I was a little in shock. I put the phone down deciding it must have been a dream then picked it up again and told my partner. I think I had to hear myself say it out loud to actually believe the words “You are a finalist”. His response was so matter of fact - “Well of course!”

I’ve been in a state of pure joy all day. So proud of everything our business has become. So proud of the incredible people we have with us on this journey. So proud of the direction we’re going with Wine Unplugged.

The Wine Unplugged team is predominantly female. What unique strengths to you think females bring to the wine industry?
Women (Mothers especially) are time poor!! They have learned this incredible skill (that I am still yet to master - in fact I’m honestly terrible at it) to be very efficient with their time. Their brains work quickly. They are able to respond and act immediately not waste a single minute of time. They multi-task and they just get shit done.

Women are fabulous collaborators and believe that two brains are better than one. I owe most of who I am as a winemaker to Nina – my partner in crime with all things Wine Unplugged. She has mentored me in life and business.

What sparked your love of wine?
It runs in my family! My Dad has been in the industry for close to 40 years now. When I was 17 I was lucky enough to tag along on a few winery and vineyard tours with him in Europe. I remember being completely mesmerized by the romance of wine – as cliché as that sounds. The age of the vines that we were walking through. The stories of the people making the wines. The history of the tunnels in Champagne during the war. The fact that it would bring together an entire village once a year for harvest. The passion and sense of pride held by those showing you their blood, sweat and tears in a bottle.

How did you get into the wine industry? Is it something you always wanted to do?
No – not at all. It was always my dad’s industry. I was lucky enough to find one of my life’s biggest passions at high school. I completed the first few certificates in commercial cookery for VCE and fell in love with cooking and food. I was encouraged to get a degree from Melbourne University after school and I worked in kitchens to fund my way through. I studied Psychology and Criminology and whilst I found that fascinating I couldn’t see myself creating career in those areas. I always knew one thing for certain – I would never work in an office.

I went back to William Angliss to complete my Chef’s qualifications and realized pretty quickly that the hours would always be terrible. The greatest joy I get from cooking is sharing that meal with others and I would be missing all of it if I were in the kitchen full time. So after William Angliss I packed my bag and headed to central and south America for a six month trip with a couple of mates. Some of my greatest memories from the trip were at wineries or whilst drinking wine with those friends.

At the end of the trip my dad, recently retired, came over to Peru to see Machu Pichu with me. It was whilst we were there that we came up with the concept of Pacha Mama. Our first brand. I remember my dad telling me that I should think about wine. It was the perfect combination of everything I loved – food, travel, art, music, science, even psychology plays a part when thinking about how people taste and buy wine.

I came back from that trip and called Nina – I had never met her but on my dad’s advice I asked her about the industry and how I could go about working a vintage. Her words of wisdom were if you can get through a vintage of cleaning drains and sorting grapes and come out the other end smiling then it’s for you. I’ve never looked back.

Why did you name your first brand “Pacha Mama”? 
When the indigenous people of Machu Picchu toasted the sunrise coming up over the ruins, they poured a little of their drink onto the ground as a way to say thanks to their Earth Mother (Mother Nature) "Pacha Mama". It was such a beautiful concept that the grapes are grown from the soil, nurtured into wine, and then poured back into the soil that we (my dad and I) decided that it could become our first family wine project.

How has having your dad in the industry helped (and hindered) your winemaking career, if at all?
I have been so lucky that my dad has been teaching me about business for years and I’ve just never really known it. It’s the reason Wine Unplugged has been able to grow and support so many incredible people. Producing amazing wines and brands. The hindsight and the lessons that you learn from having a successful career in wine for over 40 years is not something you can read in a textbook. I’ve have direct access to all of that wisdom and it’s so valuable. I’ve also been fortunate enough to have been given an opportunity that feels almost all of the time too good to be true. I am very aware that I’ve been handed something most people work for years to try and get up. That would also be the hindrance. It’s definitively been hard on my confidence and self-worth. I find it hard to believe that it’s something that I’ve earned or deserved.

Your cellar’s under water. Which bottle do you dive in to save?
I can’t hold my breath for long so it would be the first bottle I found with sentimental value. Sometimes the memories attached to a wine are far more powerful than the wine itself.

First CD you ever bought?
It would have been a 100% hits. A release from the 90’s. I was a pop and RnB tragic!

What book are you reading right now?
Embarrassingly enough I’m a teen romance lover. I’m reading a series called “All Souls” so that I can watch the TV series with a few of my girlfriends.

Favourite food and wine match… 
This one is easy! Italian wine with pasta or pizza. They are both about simplicity, highlighting well grown ingredients, full of flavour, and so damned delicious. With our wines it would be The Cloak Sangiovese paired with a prosciutto pizza with tomato, buffalo mozzarella and loads of fresh basil.

Your go-to food and wine match? Fried chicken and Champagne.

Your preferred knock off drink?
Nothing quenches the thirst of a hard day’s work better than an ice cold beer!

What would you say is your main point of difference when it comes to Wine Unplugged and your wines?
We have been working really hard at defining this recently. I think it’s the unique combination of our story and our people. We are a business that has been built by a community of part-time women, which is in itself incredibly unique. We are open-minded, free spirited and unconstrained. Our wines are the culmination of a unique set of talents, creativity and personality. Individuals with the freedom to express their art without boundaries. We work collaboratively and let our collective efforts shine!

Who’s had the biggest influence on you? 
Nina - she has been there right beside me for the past five years. Mentoring me, motivating me, and teaching me. It’s hard to not work as closely as we do and for that long without seeing the best and worst sides of each other. Some parts of the year I see and speak to her more than I do my own partner.

Which leads me to the second person who has made a monumental influence on me in the short few years I’ve been lucky enough to have him in my life – Nic. His unwavering belief in me and everything I do has helped me achieve things I never thought possible before (like this award). His support, belief in me and passion helps motivate me daily to strive for bigger and better things. Finally, my family for raising me and allowing me to become the person I am today.

Best advice you ever got?
Fake it till you make it and always surround yourself with people who are better than you!

What’s your go-to party trick?
The worm or the cup song from Pitch Perfect.

Do you have a nickname?
Just the usual shortened versions of my name – Cal, CalJem, CJ, and CP (Callie Pops) given to me when I was very young.

If you weren’t making wine, what would you be doing?
I honestly have no idea. I’m not sure I have ever given much thought to what else I’d want to do.

What do you wish you knew about winemaking before you started?
So many things! In fact, there are so many things that I wish I knew now about winemaking that I still don’t know. I wish I knew how much public speaking was involved. I wish I knew how emotionally tolling it is when you read a bad review or receive a bad result at a wine show. No one tells you how exposing it can be to put your entire year’s work in a bottle for all to critique. I wish I knew how much writing was involved – It’s never been a skill I thought I was good at. But having said that I’m glad that I didn’t know because I’ve learnt how to speak in public, I’ve learnt how to focus on the wins and to not give a second thought to the negative reviews and finally I have learnt that I shouldn’t be so shy with my voice and tone on paper.

What are the strangest words you’ve used to describe a wine?
I’m not that creative with my wine vocabulary. I have heard some crackers though – a pretty swamp to describe a pinot noir.

If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
Tenacious, thoughtful, sensitive.

Three things you would take on a deserted island with you other than water?
Margaritas or gin (let’s just say booze), music and friends.

Are there any particular experiences or lessons that have really shaped your winemaking?
I’ve learnt how much fun it is to experiment and have the ability to play a little with smaller parcels of wine. When wines don’t go as planned that’s when you learn the most about winemaking. Working vintages with other winemakers also helps challenge and shape your perceptions of wine and winemaking. The experience you gain working that closely to people with knowledge and experience completely different from yours makes you question your own techniques and helps you improve with each experience.

How do you know when you have a particularly good vintage?
For me a good vintage encompasses so much more than just the fruit quality. Of course, a good vintage starts with the perfect weather conditions, followed by meticulous management of the vineyard by our growers so that the fruit is clean and packed full of flavour plus good winemaking decisions, but it extends from there. It’s also the timing in which that the fruit ripens so we can keep up in the winery and not run out of tanks. It’s about the people that are working with us in the cellar. It’s when even in the face of adversity you work as a team to make it through together.

What is your favourite varietal to work with and why?
I love our Chardonnay. Our growers produce pristine fruit which makes itself – our job is to just not interfere. However, I also love the challenge of our pinot noir. We are constantly learning and experimenting with different techniques to get the balance just right.

If you were one of your wines, which one would you be and why? 
Our Prosecco. It’s a drink of celebration which evokes a sense of joy, happiness and excitement.