A stint working in Tasmania for vintage in 1997 led to a new home and love for Fran Austin, who is now the co-owner and winemaker for Delamere Vineyards at Pipers Brook.
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Moving from Western Australia for the opportunity to spend five months working in Tasmania, Ms Austin loved the experience so much she moved here permanently in 2002 for a role as the site winemaker and manager for Bay of Fires Wines.
Around the same time Shane Holloway moved to Tasmania from Adelaide to spend a vintage working at Pipers Brook Vineyard.
“He had studied aquaculture and was going to go back [to Adelaide] to do a postgraduate degree,” Ms Austin said.
“We struck up a romance and he loved working vintage.
“He hadn’t found a job he enjoyed [in aquaculture] and was at a loose end. He did vintage and loved it and felt like it was the life for him.”
Instead of heading back to Adelaide to study, Mr Holloway worked in the lab at Bay of Fires with Ms Austin and also did some vintages in Oregon and Tasmania.
“He then came back to Tasmania full time for Dalrymple Winery, and considered buying that. He wanted to do something for himself, but Dalrymple wasn’t the right business fit,” Ms Austin said.
“He then heard Delamere was selling and got the funds together to buy it.”
Mr Holloway ran the Pipers Brook vineyard solo for several years.
It wasn’t until Ms Austin was on maternity leave after having their son Zac, who is almost 10, that she decided to join her partner in business too.
“Shane had a stern talk to me and we agreed I wan’t going back [to Bay of Fires]. I was just putting off the inevitable,” she said.
“That was when I decided to join the business, in mid 2011.”
Isobelle was born 21 months ago, taking the small family to four members.
While their children were born in Tasmania, Ms Austin and Mr Holloway still feel homesick for their respective states occasionally.
“Moving to Tasmania does certainly come with its challenges. We moved without any connections at all, not even a family friend,” she said.
“But we have been lucky to develop a network. The wine industry here is quite conducive to that.
“And we have friends with children who are the same age, who do the same thing.”
Of course there are always the interstate relatives and friends to accommodate throughout the year too.
“Luckily everyone wants to come to Tasmania and often we are the excuse, so we have lots of visits from friends and family.”