From the vines to the kitchen, meet the women shaping South Australia’s food and wine scene

Sophie Melton

Charles Melton Wines / Domaine Sophie Claire

Sophie Melton is the Barossa Valley through and through. The second-generation winemaker works at her family’s winery, Charles Melton Wines, just outside of Tanunda. She’s such a product of the region, and so down to earth, that she could commune with the heritage vine roots themselves.

“I care deeply about the Barossa and honouring the history of this area, and the foundation that my parents have built,” she says, “whilst bringing my personal experiences and style to the industry through the creation of my own wines and label.” Domaine Sophie Claire (DSC) came about in 2016, while Sophie was still studying. It was in parts an outlet, a passion project and, in true third child rebellion, a way to explore her interest in white winemaking. “At that point, Charles Melton had been a “red wine only” winery for over 30 years,” she laughs.

Since graduating, the label has been solely produced and run by her. The range is purposefully succinct: a classic, bone-dry Riesling and a red blend, called the Grenache, Shiraz and Riesling. “I like being able to be very particular,” Sophie says, “focus on the finer details and let the wines do the talking.”

At the cellar door, customers often aren’t aware that they’re being shown around by the winemaker herself. I’m sorry to betray that secret, but it is worth knowing that there is an art to her artlessness, and it’s in pursuit of throwing the elusive, sometimes pretentious shackles off of winemaking and tasting. “I never want anyone to feel like they can’t be honest about the wine in front of them or that they don’t know enough,” she says. “At the end of the day, you can know nothing about the process of how that wine is made into a glass, but you can always tell if you like it or not, and that’s all you need to know.”

DSC’s wines continue to be sold out of Charles Melton’s cellar door. The provenance is palpable: it’s where Sophie grew up, and where she is most at home, so why wouldn’t her wines be, too? “I think it’s special to have them under one roof,” Sophie says. “We have customers who have been visiting us from the very first vintage of Charles Melton ever produced, and they are now able to come and see what I’m making as well.” Back then, Sophie was just a baby. Now, she can be witnessed as a winemaker in her own right, happily planted on the soil that made her who she is, and she will continue to make her own.

Lux Hoang

SANI Bakehouse / Yakisan

“I was going to move to Sydney to become a stockbroker—that was always the dream!” says Lux Hoang, head pastry chef at SANI Bakehouse and Yakisan. Providence intervened more than once. While studying finance, an open lease near her apartment sparked the idea for her dessert bar, Love, Stephy. Then, a personnel shift necessitated her upskilling to pastry—and as anyone who’s ever attempted a brief, ill-fated foray into home viennoiserie will know, that’s no easy feat. But Lux is a self-taught marvel, learning everything through courses and books.

“I think, at the start, I was pretty bad at it!” she laughs. “A recipe would take me a good six or seven attempts to get right.” Her monetary acumen definitely came in handy, though, considering the accuracy demanded by patisserie. “The numbers matter to me,” she says. “When I read the recipes, I wanted to understand the percentages, why it was like that. So, I slowly dug deeper into it.Around two years in, I was like, ‘This is something I really want to do’.”

Eventually, a desire for mentorship landed her a job at SORA, where she met Nate Scutter. He came to her with the ideas for SANI and Yakisan. “When he showed me the floorplan, the concept and everything, I got really excited,” she says. There’s a beautiful precision to Lux’s demeanour that is layered throughout her work, including the French and Japanese-fusion pastries that have become her signature. From the height of the pantry shelves to the kitchen benches, she was hands-on with SANI from the very beginning.

“Looking back, I didn’t think it would happen like that!” she laughs. Thank goodness for the pastry-addicted among us that it did. She’s quietly effusive about her passion for the job. “When you’redoing something you love, it’s not really work. When SANI and Yakisan first started, I literally worked seven days [a week], morning until night, but at the end of the day, I didn’t feel mentally exhausted. I feel excited about what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

She doesn’t just work the back of house, where the butter-laced magic happens. She also does front of house, stepping out to make matcha and serve guests. “What makes my day the most is when a customer has a pastry, and they come back and tell me that they enjoyed it,” she says. “I get to know the people that walk through the door and the sort of experience I have created for them. That is really, really rewarding.”

Imogen Czulowski

Africola / Africola Canteen

“Give me the pressure. I thrive in it,” says Imogen ‘Mo’ Czulowski. For over 15 years, the renowned chef has worked in restaurants across Australia and Europe, including Willunga’s Fino and London’s Dinner by Heston. Once Africola’s head chef, she’s now their culinary director, heading up major projects for the restaurant and their Norwood-based offshoot, Africola Canteen. She also owns a hospitality consultancy business and runs Off Piste 4WD Tours with her partner. Pressure? Abundant. Thriving? Absolutely.

The Africola team are fresh off a whirlwind Tasting Australia run. This year, the club series was a highlight for Mo; Africola was involved in nights at Adelaide’s Greek, Italian, Austrian and Polish clubs. “These events were curated to showcase our ethnic communities and how much they impact our food culture,” Mo says. It’s these experiences, in part, that sparked her return to Africola. She stepped out from behind the pass when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but the homecoming is the continuation of a long, meaningful chapter in her life. “Africola has always meant more to me than a restaurant,” she says. “It is a family, and a genuinely fun and loving one at that.” 

During her hiatus, she joined Off Piste, which has allowed her to stay connected to her Fleurieu Peninsula roots. Her partner, Ben, started the venture in 2010. He conducts the exclusive, small-group safaris, while Mo is responsible for the intimate lunches served at their home: a converted, 19^th-century homestead and former butter factory. For Mo, it’s an idyllic lifestyle, showcasing the ingredients of their kitchen garden and the rolling vineyards beyond. ‘Relaxed’ is never a word she would use to describe the industry, but for her, there is enjoyment to be found in the intensity. “Balance is what you make it,” she says.

A lot has changed since Mo’s career started, back in 2009. “As a woman in this industry, I faced my share of difficult challenges,” she admits. “But along the way, you do come across the real ones, chefs and business owners who see your potential for who you are, not your gender,” she says. “It’s part of why I’m so proud of what we’ve built at Africola, because we have built an extremely inclusive culture.” Gender has turned into a dying focal point. “I think the real question now is, ‘What qualities make a good leader?’” If I had to answer that question, I’d probably say dedication, collaboration and ingenuity. Without a doubt, Mo’s got all three in spades.

Jenna Lansley

Omada Bar & Grill

“It’s hard to describe what I do without experiencing it, or sounding cliché,” says Jenna Lansley, “but what I do, simply, is manage the front of house team at OMADA Bar and Grill.” For Jenn, the Greek-inspired haunt is her third baby, and funnily enough, the hardest one to look after. OMADA opened in December last year, and what started as drinks and snacks is now a full-blown restaurant. “It literally exists to bring people together,” Jenn says. “It’s partly a restaurant, partly a bar, partly your yiayia’s kitchen – how is that not exciting?”

Jenn is a hospitality lifer: in her 20-year tenure, she’s only held three jobs that weren’t on a restaurant floor. “I am not built for any other life!” she laughs. While she may be a restaurant manager to the general public, to her team, she’s simply Mama Jenn. “And that’s a title I wear pretty seriously!” she laughs. “I can’t do what I do without each one of them or without the strong belief that anything can be fixed with a dirty gin martini.”

Meeting her is like unexpectedly encountering a warm front in the middle of winter: instant ease, instant welcome. It’s a personality and attitude that comes partly from her upbringing: English and Samoan on her mum’s side, Australian and Dutch on her dad’s. “I learnt pretty quickly how to get a word in and hold my ground in a room full of people,” she says, “but ‘large’ is a motto to live by and I have a large love for people to match the large personality.”

Indeed, it’s the perfect temperament for taking a busy venue in hand. Curating an atmosphere in a restaurant is perhaps scarcely thought about by the layman, but when it’s bad, you notice it, and when it’s great, you really notice it. Getting ‘bums on seats’ is Jenn’s number one saying. “Sounds rather silly,” she says, “but at the end of the day, if you don’t have anyone coming in to sit and share what you love, what’s the point?”

At OMADA, it’s something that a lot of love has gone into: creating a space that speaks for itself. “My biggest thing when thinking about OMADA is I wanted people to feel like they were at home or at yiayia’s house,” she says. With Jenn, and with OMADA’s success, that’s really all there is to it: sincerity. “Not a secret trick,” she says, “just treat everyone like family, and that is what they will become.”