Charlotte Hardy is the owner and winemaker of Charlotte Dalton Wines. She has spent 23 years in the wine industry, beginning her career at Craggy Range in New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay in 2000.
After five years Hardy left to work at Chateaux Giscours in Bordeaux, France, followed by a move to the United States to work for David Abreu, viticulturist and grower to some of the most cult brands in California.
A move to South Australia in 2007 saw Hardy appointed first winemaker for The Lane vineyard’s new Hahndorf winery. Out of frustration at not being able to have grapes or wine analysed in the Adelaide Hills Hardy left The Lane in 2009 and established a mobile wine and grape analysis laboratory operating in the region.
After two years running the lab Hardy employed staff to operate it and returned to winemaking as winemaker for Natasha Mooney’s wine consultancy business Wine Architect. Her own brand – Charlotte Dalton Wines – began in 2015, with Hardy making wine from a shed on her Basket Range property alongside her consultancy job.
In 2017 Hardy welcomed daughter Ava and moved into working for her brand full time. Two years later Hardy’s son Sammy was born, and she and partner Ben Cooke moved to the Fleurieu Peninsula. They established a new winery and cellar door in Port Elliot where they make and sell the Charlotte Dalton and Cooke Brothers wines.
