Corrina Wright (nee Rayment)
Winemaker & Director
After growing up & working in her family vineyards in McLaren Vale, having a father in the industry, and working in various cellar doors in the area, it was a natural progression for Corrina to develop a passion for winemaking. Corrina enrolled in a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Oenology) in 1993. This coincided with Corrina convincing her Grandfather & Uncles to let her have some fruit from the Oliver’s Taranga vineyard and working with local Chapel Hill winemaker, Pam Dunsford to produce a small scale wine. Oliver’s Taranga was born!! In 1997, Corrina was granted a Scholarship from Southcorp Wines & Adelaide Universityto study for a year at the University of California- Davis. She graduated from the prestigious Len Evans Tutorial in 2005, and continues to judge at numerous wine shows around Australia. Corrina serves on a number of industry boards and her commitment to the wine industry in Australia was rewarded with a position on the inaugural ‘Future Leaders- Succession for the Australian Wine Industry’ program in 2006.
Don Oliver
Viticulturist & Director
don@oliverstaranga.com
Don, a fifth generation Oliver, was born in McLaren Vale and has worked in the wine industry for most of his life developing the Taranga vineyard into what it is today.
A large part of Don’s life revolves around the Oliver family properties, ‘Taranga’ vineyard in McLaren Vale and ‘Shannon’ and ‘Avendale’ in the South East of South Australia, which are predominately used for cropping, sheep and cattle grazing but are managed by brother, Morris.
Don, an avid supporter of the region, is one of McLaren Vales most respected grape growers and is known for his technical vineyard innovations, producing grapes to go into super premium and icon wines.
Margie Oliver
Administration Manager
margie@oliverstaranga.com
Margie is currently in charge of general office administration, IT, HR and as a backup cellar door person and has a background in office procedures, banking and tourism, all of which now play a vital part in steering a burgeoning wine company.
Margie is also the keeper of general order, discipline and focus in the office, but is looking forward to having a regular day off to spend on the golf course!
Brioni Oliver
Cellar Manager
brioni@oliverstaranga.com
Brioni has grown up on the Taranga property and is also a sixth generation Oliver family member. She has worked in the Taranga Vineyard throughout her school holidays.
Brioni graduated from Adelaide University with a Bachelor of Wine Marketing in 2005.
Since then she has spent some time backpacking around Europe. Brioni has recently come home to start her professional career at Oliver’s Taranga as Cellar Manager which entails stock control, despatch and most recently cellar door management. So if you are visiting our cellar door she will be more than happy to show you through our range of wines.
Nicky Connolly
Direct Sales Manager/ Cellar Door
nicky@oliverstaranga.com
Nicky has grown up in McLaren Vale and is part of our extended family. She has worked on the Taranga property and other local cellar doors while studying Wine Marketing at Adelaide University. She then spent 5 years in WA’s Margaret River working at Howard Park’s cellar door.
At Oliver’s Taranga Nicky is involved in cellar door, bottling, dispatch, export, is our advertising guru and like any family business is available for anything else that comes up!
Sally White
Cellar Door sally@oliverstaranga.com
Sally has been a great friend of the Oliver family for a long time. In fact, Corrina, Nicky & Sally all worked together in their teenage years at Granny Mays in Westfield Marion! Sally is our cellar door specialist- and she is so brilliant at her job that she was a finalist for the McLaren Vale Cellar Door Person of the Year award in 2011. You will see Sally some weekdays & on weekends. Joining Sally in cellar door is the lovely Trudy, Chad and Emma.
The Vineyard Team
Patrick, Aaron, Jim & Don
The team consists of Aaron Gowling who has recently joined us after working as a local diesel mechanic for 9 years and is in charge of workshop maintenance and operations. After 20 years as the local McLaren Vale Butcher, Jim Ellis has had a career change to the vineyard. He is a jack of all trades and supplies the vineyard entertainment! Patrick Lawlor is our most recent member of the vineyard team, and is passionate about extreme 4WD adventures.