If change is as good as a holiday then Adam and Sandy Gibson must be on a permanent vacation.
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Thirty minutes out of Launceston and nestled in the Northern hills of Loira, Winter Brook Estate is a quaint rustic cottage in the traditional Tasmanian style, clad in local timber, silvered with age.
The boutique winery is the new home and business of the Gibsons, their two children 16-year-old Samantha, 13-year-old Maxim and Molly the resident vineyard Dachshund.
Standing on the deck, Sandy Gibson is warm and inviting and full of conversation, hard to believe Loira's latest viticulturist and winemakers spent over two decades as a policewoman in the NSW police force.
As she walks through the recently renovated cellar door listing the changes made to the new business, she explains her husband and winemaking partner Adam is out in the vines, but will be along soon.
Like his wife, Adam is a former NSW police officer and veteran of 20 plus years who now calls the rolling hills and manicured vines of Winter Brook his office.
Sandy says the pair had dreamed of running their own vineyard for years.
"One of our passions has always been wine," she said.
"A lot of our time and a lot of our holidays was spent around the wine regions, collecting wines and enjoying wines and we thought, well ... nothing better than a career in wine."
Having both attained the rank of sergeant Adam and Sandy say they felt they had reached a point in their policing career where they could walk away content with what they had achieved and decided to re-skill and pursue the long-held dream - but the change didn't happen overnight.
"I spent the next few years studying at Charles Sturt University where I completed a wine science degree and a degree in viticulture," she said.
Once the decision was made, finding the right location was the next step with Sandy and Adam making regular trips to Tasmania to tour the various wine regions.
Sandy said ensuring the couple found a location that could sustain the business and their growing family drew them to the North.
"About three years ago, we decided to focus all our attention on Tasmania," she said. "The climate is beautiful, the whole lifestyle is beautiful, and the food and wine movement is the most amazing in the country."
Sill a little green in the wine game, Sandy said the community support has been amazing with neighbouring vineyards always on calls to offer a helping hand or piece of advice.
"When I first got here in July we were in the throes of quarantine and these kinds of COVID related issues," she said. "We sent Adam and the kids home to Sydney to pack up the house, then everything went in lockdown and I ended up spending three months here on my own.
While the isolation was difficult, Sandy rose to the challenge of teaching herself the ropes, but not afraid to ask for a helping hand from some of her neighbours when the need arose.
"I learnt the bottling, I learned how to gravity feed, I basically was able to bottle a lot of wine on my own," she said.
"It took some time, it took a lot of spilling the wine, It took a lot of drinking wine and It took some tears, but I would just ring people like Doug from Swinging Gate and even Adrian from Loira Vines.
"They would come over here to help me flip tanks or help in the vineyard or just cooking food and inviting me over so it wasn't just so isolated. "I was really lucky to have that support she said."
Despite being young operators, Winter Brook has experienced some early success after winning an award for its 2021 rose at the 32nd Tasmanian Wine Show.
The win was one of the highlights for Sandy who sees the award as a confirmation the duo were on the right track.
As for Adam, after two decades of serving in the NSW police, each day at Winter Brook was its own reward.
"I've always loved being outdoors and I've always loved gardening and I've got both in one without the stress that I formerly had," he said.
"Just to hear the sound of the birds and nothing, that's music to my ears and what I what I really need in my life at the moment."
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