Murphy Wines

The story of Arran Murphy has a fairytale ring to it. He began as an unqualified cellar hand at Tahbilk in 2000, and in '03 was offered the opportunity of a traineeship at Plunkett Wines. He began studying wine production, and in '04 received a scholarship that enabled him to do a harvest in the Sonoma Valley. Since '00 he had been making small batches of wine by collecting grapes from the end of rows picked by mechanical harvesters, using chicken wire as a destemmer, and using a three-generations-old basket press. In '04 he decided to purchase a few tonnes of grapes and make his first commercial wine. With next to no capital, he was unable to afford any new oak, so experimented with inner staves, chips and oak cubes. He has now added chardonnay to his portfolio. -JAMES HALLIDAY