“When people ask us, as they frequently do, why two city dwellers
should suddenly buy a 16 acre bare paddock in Dry River Road,
Martinborough, dismiss the sheep and plant 10,000 vines by spade, the
answer is palpable – we’d simply lost our marbles.  What had been
envisaged as a gentle descent into middle age retirement has turned into
a thriving 24/7 bustle of vinetending, winemaking, marketing and
restaurateuring – each operation undertaken in the hallowed,
self-flagellating Martinborough tradition.  And so the old-fashioned
notion that small is beautiful, that honest sweat produces happiness
turns out to be our guiding principle.”