I grew up in Marlborough in the 1990s, raised among vines by wine-obsessed parents, where school holidays were measured in pruning cuts and leaf-plucked afternoons. I left home to study environmental science in Wellington with the firm intention of becoming anything but a winemaker. However, the apple had fallen closer to the tree than first thought, and it didn’t take long to realise my early exposure to mind-bending red Burgundy had already set my course. A postgraduate path in winemaking and viticulture followed, and with it fifteen harvests spent moving between vineyard and cellar across New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and the United States.
Those seasons have shaped a belief in careful farming, the accumulation of small decisions and wines that carry the imprint of their place and the season that formed them. I’m drawn to the quiet work of small teams who sweat the details, guided always by what the vineyard is asking for.
Working with Sam at Stargazer offered a return to true cool-climate viticulture, and the pull of Tasmania’s wild landscape was impossible to ignore. It’s a privilege to farm and make wine in such a remarkable setting, helping shape wines that are honest, expressive, and made to be shared at the table.
