Nobody warned me that the hardest part of this trip would be putting the camera down.
Last month, I threw myself through a window of opportunity. The vines still had fruit on them, there was a hire car, a photographer/videographer named Pat who moves through the world like light bends to his will, and a lot of snacks. Eight days across rural Victoria, visiting Sam Plunkett in Seymour, Nina Stocker and Kate Day in their corner of the world, Jen Pfeiffer in Rutherglen, and Adrian and Rebecca Santolin in the Yarra Valley.
By day six, I was sitting on a barrel older than myself, holding a wine older than myself, watching the last grapes of vintage roll in – and thinking: “I am so glad we get to show you this.”
Because I spend most of my days writing about the connection between you and your winemakers – and we had almost no evidence of what that actually looks like.
So we went looking. Here's what we found.
The best winemakers are made by their communities – and make their communities in return
Sam Plunkett's winery is a former textiles factory in Seymour, where light seeps through high beamed ceilings and at the tail end of vintage, everything runs like a beautifully choreographed dance. His father was the first person to plant vines in the nearby Strathbogie Ranges. Sam and his wife Bron have volunteered for the local Country Fire Authority for years. When recent bushfires hit, they showed up – quietly, powerfully, because this land is wound up tight in who they are.
One arvo while chatting, Bron pulled a fresh fig off the tree out the back and set it in front of me with burrata and a coffee, without a word. The pain of the fires is still raw here. But the hope sings louder.
Sam lives by a simple philosophy: if you can do something for someone and it costs you nothing but means everything to them, you do it. You can feel it in every corner of that winery.
Winemaker Sam Plunkett and wife Bron sharing a glass of wine.
The bonds between these winemakers are real – and you helped build them
I knew Nina Stocker and Kate Day were friends with Sam, but I didn't realise how connected they all were until I was standing there in the middle of it. Nina sometimes tucks a barrel or two into Sam's winery. Uses his lab. It was Sam who introduced Jen Pfeiffer to Naked Wines – describing her as "the girl with the incredible palate."
The network of independent winemakers stitched together by Angels is special. These aren't just colleagues. They're a community, built on shared belief and mutual respect.
At Nina's farm, we ate apples tugged straight off the trees while the horses watched on enviously. Later, down by the river - at a well-used table and chairs – Kate and Nina laid out cheese, crackers, fruit, and wine without any fanfare. Kate mentioned the whole family had been there the week before, sharing a meal by the fire.
Their label is called Two Pairs. Watching them finish each other's sentences, bounce off one another, disagree and land in the same place - it's obvious as to why. The camera easily caught every shared grin.
That night, Nina served up a steaming butter chicken curry and I thought: these winemakers are extraordinarily generous with their worlds.
Nina Stocker, Lulu and Kate Day on Nina's farm.
Every detail tells the story
At Jen Pfeiffer's winery in Rutherglen, I felt the weather shift and bought a hand-knitted beanie from the local Country Women's Association before we even arrived. "How fast can you get here?" Jen had asked. The last fruit of vintage 2026 was coming in, and that means rituals at the Pfeiffer winery.
We made it. Our reward was the intern team's traditional end-of-vintage dance, Jen's Mum's grilled cheese toasties, and a hug from the truck driver who'd been slipped a bottle of something superb as thanks for always hustling to get the fruit in at exactly the right moment.
There's a pile of gumboots at the edge of Jen's winery that sums up everything about this place. Nothing wasted. Everything with a purpose – from the scoop that's the exact right size for the morning coffee pot, to the gritty chalkboard that holds the status of every part of the process. Legacy and lesson seep from every corner.
The interns – hands stained purple, boots grubby, eyes glistening – slung arms around one another and watched the last grapes tumble into the press. Jen stood in her enormous barrel room and said, matter-of-factly: "Angels made this happen."
I had goosebumps.
Jen Pfeiffer and Lulu in Jen's vineyard in Rutherglen.
The best things were never set up
The Santolins met us by their vegetable garden, Rebecca rubbing spearmint between her fingertips. Sheep were grazing between the vines nearby – the fruit had already been picked, so Adrian wasn't bothered. Bonus mowers, basically.
Adrian and Rebecca started with a single barrel of Pinot Noir and traded their home deposit on a shared dream. Their winery is classy and full of heart – almost accidentally elegant, because airs and graces are genuinely not the point. At lunch, the most staged thing we did was encourage a few cheers for the camera.
The laughter was real. The wine flowed. The banter was full of old jokes.
Pat and I had to drive an hour to find more storage for footage because we never anticipated how many stories there'd be.
Photographer Pat, Adrian, Lulu and Rebecca at the Santolin's winery.
You are what's making this possible
We left each place with wine, always. Muscat. Homemade honey from the house next door to the giant Rutherglen wine bottle. Bath salts from Nina. Cake from Bron. A decades old bung from a dusty old barrel. Apples. A beanie.
But more than that, we left with hours of footage, thousands of photos, and an overwhelming sense that what you're funding here isn't just wine. It's a way of life. It's communities, families, friendships, and a kind of winemaking that simply wouldn't exist without people choosing to back it.
I hope we've done it justice. I'll be furious with myself if we haven't – because you deserve to see exactly what you're creating out there.
We’re weaving the photos into our emails and website now, keep an eye out. Adrian and Rebecca’s video just went live.
More soon. There's a Tim Tam Muscat slam I promised to explain.
