Billy Button Wines

Jo Marsh speaks quietly,if not diffidently,making light of the numerous awards she won during her studies for her Degree in Agricultural Science (Oenology) at the University of Adelaide. She continued that habit when she won a contested position in Southcorp's (now Treasury Wine Estates) Graduate Recruitment Program; she was appointed assistant winemaker at Seppelt Great Western in 2003. By '08 she had been promoted to acting senior winemaker, responsible for all wines made onsite. In '09 she won the Graham Thorp Memorial Scholarship at the Sydney Wine Show with '05 Seppelt Salinger, the first sparkling wine she had made. The following year she won the Member's Choice and Sommelier's Choice at the Wine Society Young Winemaker of the Year Award. She also was one of the 12 wine professionals selected to participate in the Len Evans Tutorial Scholarship, from a field of over 100. After resigning from Seppelt, she became winemaker at Feathertop, and after two happy years decided to step out on her own in '14 to create Billy Button Wines. She has set up a grower network, with one exception all from the Alpine Valleys (King Valley the exception) and made a string of excellent wines in ?14, the following year making 11 varietal wines. JAMES HALLIDAY winecompanion.com.au