Nostalgia: a sentimental yearning for the past…

As parents of teenagers, we often look back fondly on the days when they occasionally did what we asked, and we didn’t have to repeat every sentence due to AirPod-induced selective hearing…

Each vintage, Facebook memories pop up showing us in the vineyard with the kids as toddlers, reminding us how much Alexia has infiltrated our lives. But this year’s vintage was also a lesson in the potential of the future as we passed the baton of one of the hardest vintage jobs to the next generation.

Winemakers are like Goldilocks…always looking for the porridge, the chair, the bed that is “just right”.

Too often in winemaking, the porridge is either too hot (we make too much wine) or too cold (we don’t make enough). It’s a rare year when we get it just right, and one vintage of wine supplies flows seamlessly into the release of the next.

This week, in between cleaning picking bins and getting the winery ready for our first pick of the 2026 vintage, we’ve been crystal ball gazing – wondering how much wine to make to hit that sweet spot.

Much news of late has documented the decline of the wine industry. If ever there was an era of existential crisis for wine we are living in it now.

Tariffs, tax, wellness, zero wine, cocktails, boomers, gen z, gen x, millennials, sulphites, oversupply, science and the world’s obsession with iced strawberry matcha are all to blame apparently…

Most challenges I can take in my stride, but I get a little sad that our beautiful industry is minimised by some into a box called “health risk to manage”. For us, wine is our life. It’s growing and struggling, and making and fighting for something that is real and speaks of place and tells a story and brings people together.