About the Show
Step beyond the cellar door and into the lives of six Tasmanian winemakers and discover there's more than just grapes in your wine.
People Of The Vines is the tell-all series that gives a rare insight behind the vines of Tasmanian’s leading wines. Winemakers typically like their wines to speak for them; but multi-award winning wine writer Tyson Stelzer is about to pop that cork, giving an unprecedented insight into what really goes on in the lives of the people of the vines.
With all eyes on Tasmania’s wine sector because of its consistently cool climate, it seems like a winemaker’s paradise; but deep in the Tamar Valley in Tasmania’s north, it also brings challenging conditions, impacting on the amount of wine grapes harvested, in what is already one of the smallest wine producing regions in Australia.
Author of 14 wine books, Tyson Stelzer has spent months following six winemakers in Northern Tasmania, to give a very real insight into the lengths the winemakers and their families really go to produce a premium glass of Tasmanian wine. “We follow the entire process, from the first sparkling wine grapes to the flavoursome reds in what is make or break for the year's income. If it’s a good day, we show that, and if it’s a bad, well, you get that too.”
Josef Chromy chief winemaker Jeremy Dineen agrees saying you only get one chance a year to get it right - and climate plays a key role. Dineen says the hours during vintage mean he often doesn’t see his two young daughters, or his wife for that matter, for weeks on end - but he concedes it’s worth the effort. “We get very passionate and so involved in what we’re doing there’s not much room outside of that for much else, but that’s the way we like it."
“It’s really not about medals and trophies .. the best reward is finding someone who wants to drink your wine.”
Wine Tasmania CEO Sheralee Davies says for many people the series will give them an insight into how much hard work goes into each and every bottle of wine produced. “In Tasmania it is incredibly labour-intensive, with hand harvesting and small batch winemaking, and mother nature has the ultimate say. I think this will be enlightening for many, as they realise the commitment one has to make in order to produce wine, and the challenges that come their way.”
For more information and a further look at People of The Vines take a look at the website.