It’s this climate and a chance tasting in the UK that encouraged Andrew to plant Italian variety Sagrantino. His Swan Hill winery now boasts the largest single planting of this variety in Australia.

Sagrantino has a reputation as being “temperamental” but not at Andrew Peace Wines. His Sagrantino consistently out-performs his other Italian red varieties, showing resilience to frost, heat, wind, cold, drought, pests and diseases.

While the Italians may have a few hundred years on Australia in terms of making wine, Andrew believes the Australian way of continuing to improve the status quo works in our favour.

Andrew’s consuming passion is the winery, which has been in the family for 30 years after his father Jim drove past the vineyard on the River Murray in 1980 and bought it as an excuse to escape from the city. What started as a weekend escape is now a family passion.