Anna Hooper
Australia
Sustainability warrior and former Rural Woman of the Year now taking sole ownership of Obelisk Wines, with her daughter at her side
Anna Hooper is back as a Naked Winemaker in her own right and it’s her love of the ocean, surfing and exploring that gives her Obelisk range an edge. She believes the Limestone Coast is a prime location for sourcing grapes.
She's not all talk. Anna is also highly accomplished, having been named Rural Woman of the Year, inducted into the Business Women's Hall of Fame, and named a Top 10 Young Gun of Wine.
Her daughter Grace will be joining Anna in this next chapter. After an end to the formal partnership with Derek, where she made wines under a large portfolio of brands, Obelisk is now her sole focus. With shared passions and a whole lot of knowledge, it’s a perfect pairing for success.
Anna Hooper's Story
Anna’s life in wine started when she did her first vintage as a 14-year-old work experience student – so it’s fair to say this passion blossomed at a young age.
Since those formative days, and after getting her degree and working as a flying winemaker in several wineries around the world, Anna found her home on the Limestone Coast, where she began crafting wines that combined her incredible talents and her passion for sustainability. In fact, Anna produced the region’s first certified biodynamic wine range ‘La Lune’ many moons ago, and well before the movement became trendy.
Over the years, Anna has also amassed quite a few other accolades - she was South Australia’s Rural Woman of the Year 2013, an inductee into the Australian Business Women’s Hall of Fame in 2016, and named among the 2017 Young Gun of Wine Top 10 Winemakers.
And if that’s not enough, since 2019 Anna has been with Australian Grape & Wine, the peak membership association for grape and wine producers, supporting a prosperous, innovative and sustainable wine industry through advocacy.
If you’re asking yourself about when Anna ever sleeps, let alone makes wine, we hear you!
Way back when, Anna was amongst the first group of winemakers to start with Naked Wines, and today we’re thrilled that she’s back on board with us in her own right as a Naked Winemaker. Having formally been in a partnership with Derek, making wines under quite a large portfolio of brands, Anna has now taken on full ownership of Obelisk. This next chapter will see Anna focus her winemaking solely on Obelisk.
And her daughter Grace will be joining her for this adventure as well.
“I can’t wait for her to inject some youthful passion and help me explore fresh ideas,” says Anna. Grace is currently abroad working on her winemaking and clearly Anna is excited about having her daughter back.
“Grace has inherited my sense of adventure and my love of getting off the beaten track, so it’s not surprising that she ended up on the other side of the world doing vintages in South Africa and Austria,” Anna shares.
“We both love the ocean, surfing, boating, and exploring, which is why the Obelisk wines have tended to focus on being made with grapes from maritime regions. The labels also have a navigational theme, reflective of the fact that getting into wine is like a journey of exploration and discovery. Grace and I are super excited to take the Angels with us into unchartered territory.”
So, what can we expect from the new Obelisk wines? “All the qualities you know and love - drinkability, consistency and best in bottle reflecting the Limestone Coast.”
Anna also hinted that she’s got a number of incredible projects on the horizon that sound like they’re straight out of an adventure novel - hidden vines, deserted islands, secret boat trips… And if her award-winning track record is anything to go by, we can already tell these drops will be fantastic. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled - and we suggest you do too!
