We were never ‘and’ people.
Wine-growing had long been in our mind. For all the places we’d lived and travelled there’d always been the favoured question, ‘What do you grow?’ We’d always asked others with special intent because we were interested in the grape varieties they grew, but also because we’d line their answers up against the ideas in our head for our own place and our own vines.
Always their response would be… and…, a bit of… and a bit of…, a few acres of… and a couple of acres of… It clouded our thinking for so long until we recognised the problem. We only ever needed a narrow focus… just one really good thing. We had always been so singular. The answer was clear. It had only ever been Pinot for us. And it had only ever been Tasmania.
So we arrived on a handkerchief of land not far from kanamaluka at the northern end of the Tamar Valley. Close enough to the river so that most frosts are only a problem for someone else but cool enough to provide perfect ripening conditions for Pinot Noir.
