You don’t have to look too hard to find an Australian winemaker obsessed with cricket but there’s only one who holds a world record for his flannel-clad efforts.
If it’s true that one of a winemaker’s most valuable attributes is a safe pair of hands to shepherd great fruit through to great wine then it’s little wonder Joe’s making some of the most exciting pinot noir and chardonnay in Australia.
A talented cricketer in his younger days Joe even represented Tasmania at first class level and still holds the world record for the most number of catches by a wicketkeeper on debut.
At just 20, and in the strongest domestic cricket competition in the world, young Joe wrote himself into history, snapping up seven catches in an innings and sending the likes of Tom Moody and Graeme Wood back to the pavilion.
But the lure of the vineyard proved stronger than the appeal of squatting behind the stumps all day and a small loss for Tasmanian cricket became an enormous gain for Tasmanian wine.