Crabtree Watervale Wines
Andrew
Kenny.
Winemaker · Crabtree Watervale Wines
"The person who turns our grapes into something worth talking about — and he's one of the best in the country at doing it."
The winemaker
The most exciting young winemaker in Clare Valley.
When Jason Cane set out to find the right winemaker for Crabtree, he wasn't looking for someone who could simply execute a recipe. He was looking for someone who understood this land — the red terra rossa of Watervale, the peculiar cool nights that preserve Riesling's acid, the way a Clare Valley Shiraz needs to be treated differently to everything else.
He found Andrew Kenny. And by any measure, it was the best decision he's made at Crabtree.
Andrew grew up with wine in his blood, earning his viticulture and oenology degree at the University of Adelaide before arriving at Pikes Wines — one of Clare Valley's most celebrated estates — where he worked directly under Neil Pike, a winemaker who has done as much as anyone to define what Clare Valley Riesling means.
It was a masterclass education. Neil's philosophy — letting the vineyard speak, minimal interference, trusting the fruit — shaped everything Andrew would go on to do. Today you can taste that influence in every Crabtree wine. The Riesling's bright lime and fresh acidity isn't manufactured. It's coaxed from fruit that's been farmed with real care and made by someone who understands exactly when to step back.
In 2021, Andrew was awarded the highest possible recognition in Australian wine education — Dux of the AWRI's Advanced Wine Assessment Course, the most rigorous wine assessment qualification in the country. In 2024, he was inducted into the Clare Valley Hall of Fame as the region's Rising Star. Both in the same decade. Before he's 35.
He also works vintages out of Germany — at Weingut Gabel in the Pfalz — where his understanding of Riesling as a world-class variety has been sharpened against one of the grape's great homes. The result is a winemaker who thinks globally but makes wine with a deeply local sensibility.
When you open a bottle of Crabtree wine, Andrew Kenny made it. We think that matters. We think you'll taste it.
"Great wine starts in the vineyard and thrives with minimal interference. My job is to understand what the fruit is trying to say — and then get out of the way." — Andrew Kenny, Winemaker, Crabtree Watervale Wines
The winemaking philosophy
How Andrew approaches every vintage at Crabtree.
The journey
Andrew's path to Crabtree.
Also worth knowing
Andrew also makes Kenny Wine.
Outside of Crabtree, Andrew and his partner Victoria run Kenny Wine — their own small-batch label focused on Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills fruit. It's where Andrew's most experimental thinking goes. Small parcels, single vineyards, wines that push into new territory while remaining deeply rooted in place.
In 2024, Kenny Wine won Vigneron of the Year at the Young Gun of Wine Awards — the highest recognition for a winemaker who is equally committed to the land as they are to the winery. They were the only South Australian winemaker recognised. James Halliday has also written about the label, and an increasingly devoted following is forming among people who care deeply about who actually makes the wine in the bottle.
We think having a winemaker who cares deeply enough to build their own label in their own time says everything about how seriously Andrew takes his craft. That passion doesn't stop at the Crabtree gate.
Visit kennywine.net →"Kenny Wine is the passion project of Andrew and Victoria Kenny. A light-hand approach is paramount to their winemaking philosophy — the aim is to craft small-batch, single-vineyard wines of truth, each celebrating vintage variation and characteristics of site."
— James Halliday, Australian Wine CompanionTaste what Andrew has made.
Every bottle in our range was made by one of the most decorated young winemakers in Clare Valley. Come visit us in Watervale and taste the difference that real talent makes.