Beringer Blass Chief Winemaker, Chris Hatcher came to the ultimate winemaking position at one of the world's great winemakers in 1996 with impeccable credentials. He is generally considered to be one of Australia's premium white wine makers and one of the country's most respected wine show judges.

At Wolf Blass between 1988 and 1995 Chris made 39 trophy winning wines and 218 gold medallists. “Hatch” has the rare distinction of having been a senior judge at all capital city wine shows where exhibitors are permitted to judge.

He has been a senior judge at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney Royal Shows. As of 2001 Chris remains on the senior panel at Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney.

After stints at Orlando and Kaiser Stuhl in the Barossa Valley and the Simi Winery in California, Chris joined Beringer Blass (then Wolf Blass Wines) in December 1987. For almost 10 years prior to becoming Chief Winemaker, Chris was the Senior Winemaker responsible for white wine and sparkling wine production at Wolf Blass in the Barossa Valley.

Since his appointment to the top job in 1996 the wines made at every outpost of the Beringer Blass empire have improved in quality. Chris is a fastidious man with an obsessive, almost pathological attention to detail, which has filtered to every winemaker working for him today or indeed in the past. Chris Hatcher's legacy to Australian winemaking will be great.