Tallagandra Hill Winery owners talk about their time on the property. Video supplied
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So Dave and Mary, you've owned Tallagandra Hill Winery for about a decade now.
00:10At the time, you were city folk living in inner Sydney.
00:15What inspired you to buy a vineyard?
00:18So look, we saw the vineyard and just absolutely fell in love with it.
00:22There's a huge amount of potential that we saw at the time and we just thought, why not?
00:28I think just loads of potential, a whole new challenge, and for us, it also took us much
00:34closer to family.
00:38Your cellar door is very inviting.
00:41Can you tell us what contribution your cellar door operations make to the overall business?
00:46So the cellar door really forms just one part of the overall business?
00:51Yeah, we have, we've built it around multiple revenue streams, which is why we've created
00:57major events and obviously lots of music events.
01:01We've put accommodation on site, so there are multiple different customer experiences,
01:06which at the same time gives us a chance to build resilience into the business.
01:13So since you moved here nine years ago, you've essentially turned what was half of a very
01:20big farm shed into an incredible event space for weddings, live music and other events.
01:28Can you tell us more about the venue on site?
01:31Yeah, so when we arrived here, the space was a very large shed that was predominantly used
01:38for winemaking, but we could see the potential that the space had, where we could create
01:44something amazing, where people could come and have life-changing events, weddings, concerts
01:51where we raise the roof, just a really amazing space.
01:55Yeah, and it's about having somewhere that's heritage and yet contemporary with a little
02:01sprinkle of magic about it, I guess was the idea.
02:05And then we've been able to attract some amazing musicians as examples of people who've been
02:10here, like Jimmy Barnes and Kate Sobrano and The Waves and Troy Cassidaly and a whole
02:15bunch of others.
02:17So yeah, we've been doing about 30 music shows and almost as many private events per year
02:22and it's been a great experience and a great business opportunity, actually.
02:26And the venue has been the backdrop to some amazing weddings, you know, we've been lucky
02:32to be part of people's love stories.
02:40But just in time to see your rosy-lipped flowers navigate.
02:51Yeah, it's really exciting.
02:53It's so exciting for us, actually, that the vineyard is as healthy as it is at the moment.
03:00We've been working hard over many years with an organic nutrient program to make the vines
03:05happy and healthy and productive.
03:08And we're producing fruit this year that is really outstanding, which is exciting for
03:14everyone in the district, actually.
03:18And it's led us to be able to, in the last few years in particular, to have several award-winning
03:25wines that we're very proud of, four trophies and I think it's now something like 40 medals
03:31for our wines, which is a great sort of underpinning of what we stand for at Tullianga Hill.
03:46As we look around the property, we see some really stunning artworks.
03:50Can you tell us about the artwork collection you've developed since you moved in nine years ago?
03:57Well, it's evolved, obviously, but when we arrived, I think we saw the place as a blank
04:04canvas, actually, and we wanted to be able to populate that canvas with some amazing
04:11expressions of art.
04:13And we've been fortunate to partner with a lot of local artists to create some amazing
04:18sculptures and other features around the property.
04:22There are lots of heritage features here that we're kind of proud of as well.
04:27So, yeah, it was about creating an environment that felt more than just a rural environment.
04:34It's a place of art and a place of expression.
04:41You have a beautiful home on the property and a very short commute.
04:45Tell us about the kind of lifestyle living here affords you.
04:50I think, you know, it's hard to describe how much we love this place, actually.
04:55And some of that is the colour and the mood and the changing seasons, the watching things
05:01grow.
05:03And some of it is about the community, the local community, our neighbours, gathering
05:10people together and having an incredible experience here.
05:14Yeah, even after nine years of living here, every time I drive through the front gate,
05:19I still think, wow, how lucky are we to be here?
05:23And it's not only somewhere where we live, but we also get to work here.
05:27We have some amazing customers.
05:29We've made wonderful friends.
05:30And we're really on the doorstep of Canberra.
05:33So we have everything.
05:34You know, we have the city less than 30 minutes away.
05:37So it's pretty, it's a good spot to be.
05:40It's a great spot.
05:45So clearly, Mary and David, you love this place.
05:50So why sell and why now?
05:54I think the first thing is after nine years, it's actually time to pass the baton, as it were.
06:02I think, you know, we've taken things to a level that we're very proud of and that we
06:10think is highly sustainable into the future.
06:14But we know that other people could come in now and do things that we've only just started
06:21to do, actually, and increase the business and grow the business probably two or threefold
06:26beyond what it is at the moment.
06:29And then beyond that, we have a fundamental need to spend more time with family,
06:37both here and in Ireland.
06:40And that's kind of the real driver for the decision at the moment.
06:45So we actually bought a guest house in Ireland, not far from where I grew up,
06:51in a little village called Rustraver in the north of Ireland.
06:55And we want to spend just some more time there.
06:58We've got to a stage where we want to have time with family.
07:01And it's that old saying where you can't have everything, but you actually can.
07:06But the thing is you may not be able to have it all at the one time.
07:09So we had to make a decision.
07:11And the decision is that we'll move on from here, hand the reins over to someone else
07:18so that they can bring this to the potential we saw at the very beginning.
07:22We've started up that hill, and we just need to do it.
07:26And, you know, right back here in the Canberra region, we're going to be here, right?
07:32No, no.
07:34And most of the year will be spent around here.
07:37We'll be chasing grandkids around.
07:40And we've both got some interesting creative and business pursuits
07:45that we're plotting on at the moment.
07:48So watch out.