Fox Creek is the venture of the extended Watts family, headed by Jim (a retired surgeon). Although Fox Creek is not certified organic, it uses sustainable vineyard practices, avoiding all systemic chemicals. In June 2015 Fox Creek announced a $500 000 winery expansion, developed in close collaboration with the winemaking team.
Senior Winemaker, Alan Harris, encouraged Scott to study winemaking, so he enrolled in the Charles Sturt University’s Wine Science course. Studying by distance enabled Scott to work in the industry whilst he comepleted the course, allowing him to combine theoretical knowledge with practical application and he completed the course in 2002.
Scott spent five vintages at Mildura Blass, departing in 1997 to work as assistant winemaker at McWilliams Wines in Yenda. Under the guidance of Winemaker, Russell Cody, Scott learnt the intricisies of red winemaking. After three vintages with Russell, Scott changed his colours and became the White Winemaker under the watchful eye of Jim Brayne, before advancing to Senior White Winemaker, a position which he held for another three years.
Scott needed a sea change and spent the 2004 vintage in Padthaway before settling into his current role as Senior Winemaker at Fox Creek Wines. Since late 2004 Scott has been set the challenge of using both his red and white winemaking experience and creativity to produce top quality wines.
Our hand crafted wines are produced without fineing, stabilizing, or the use of ion exchange resins. Filtration is done sparingly so as to retain the natural aromas and flavors. We, of course, have to apply some filtration to avoid the chance of pulp and yeast cells in the finished wine.
Because of our hand processing you will be able to see the “wein stone” (tartaric acid crystals) which mark a fine wine. The acidity is maintained in constant equilibrium between the liquid wine and the crystals deposited on the bottom of the bottle. This temperature-dependent equilibrium insures that the wine will always be crisp even though the serving temperature may be less than ideal.