Within eighteen months Katie had moved home to Pemberton, been adopted by a horse and a cat, taken over as Head Winemaker at Lost Lakes Wines and turned 25.
The cat scratches and the horse threw her off, but luckily the bones healed before the 2010 vintage - Katie's first as Head Winemaker at Lost Lake, the vineyard and winery owned by her family and located in Pemberton.
Katie has gained a variety of experience in several wine regions in Australia and France which has helped to define a belief in delicate, elegant wines that express the region in which they are grown and are as 'unmade' as possible. It was armed with these beliefs, a truckload of enthusiasm and a father and brother as cellar hands that helped her through her first vintage.
Luckily the picturesque Lost Lake property and hands-on approach of the Masters family are excellent tools for allowing the fruit to express the cool climate characteristics of the Pemberton Region, so in theory Katie's job should be a piece of cake!