About Us

Richard Woods and Rasa Fabian

Ex wine industry executives, Richard Woods and Rasa Fabian have abandoned their city slicker life in Sydney for Watervale in the Clare Valley, South Australia where they are now the proud owners of Crabtree Watervale Wines.

Richard and Rasa collectively have decades of sales and marketing experience and they plan to put this to good use to successfully raise the awareness of this boutique winery and its exceptional wines.

Brendan Pudney

Brendan is the youngest member of the team, and hides in the winery for most of the day ensuring the wines are in top condition at all times. He loves his radio stations, and if any other members of the staff are in ‘his’ winery, then they must adhere to his choice of music (except at vintage, when classical, jazz and the occasional CD of The Doors can be heard on occasions when his guard is down). He also loves his footy, and is always out there attempting to injure himself every Saturday of the football season, yet is still able to turn up to work early on Monday mornings without a scratch on him….. In all seriousness, he is a fairly handy footballer apparently, according to the local newspaper anyway.

Never seen without his blue cap, blue work jeans and blue shirt during vintage, and also most of the time outside of vintage, although when it gets cold he is sometimes seen wearing jumpers which aren’t actually all blue, though this is an extremely rare sight indeed (something akin to a bird watcher spotting a Dodo). He is the backbone of the day-to-day production of Crabtree Watervale Wines, and the saviour of all the winery animals when Robert is away.

Jarrod Scott

Jarrod is the ‘new blood’ at Crabtree Watervale Wines. He used to work in his family’s electrical business for a number of years, and decided on a career change and became part of the wine industry after spending time in the UK and Europe. Following in the footsteps of a friend who had studied Wine Marketing at Roseworthy Agricultural College a number of years earlier, Jarrod subsequently completed a degree in Wine Marketing at the University of Adelaide. He has since shared himself around and worked for a small selection of both large and small wine companies ever since commencing his studies.

Jarrod loves classic cars, and watching cricket, rugby, soccer and motorsport on TV. He hilariously attempts to play golf occasionally with friends, and would love to get into snowboarding if we actually had Alpine regions in South Australia. He likes varied styles of music, and unlike Brendan, he actually likes Robert’s taste in classical and jazz, but mostly listens to the sorts of music that Robert and Brendan both dislike with a passion. Jarrod loves nothing better than sitting at a table sharing good food and wine surrounded by his friends, especially if the food is something resembling Italian, Spanish, Greek, or Japanese. Jarrod is often the person you will speak to at the cellar door if Robert doesn’t beat him to it when visitors ring our doorbell.

Grant Arnold

Grant is mainly only with us during vintage, but his presence is felt for far longer. He is a local Clare valley grape grower, and has assisted at Crabtree for a number of years over the vintage period. Grant is a great person to have around the place during vintage as he has the habit of not being able to keep quiet for long (both good and bad sometimes), as he has a fairly keen sense of humour. He also is the owner of The Rebel Dog, our friendly vintage kelpie, who also can’t stay quiet during vintage as he loves barking at the old tractor that we use to bring in the handpicked fruit from our vineyards, and if the tractor isn’t going, there is always the wind, which he also barks at and loves to try and chase down.

Ray Parish

Ray is a Clare native, with around 60 vintages under his belt, so he knows his way around the vineyards. He is a permanent member of our picking gang, and is also always out there every year helping us with the pruning. He lives very close by to the winery, so never has an excuse for not turning up to work, not that he needs one, as he is at his happiest working in the vines, or when the winery lab fridge is opened and a cool ale or two are to be had at the end of a warm day.