Last week’s guest speaker, Sue Ridler, spoke to us about “Living the Dream” Sue delivered a thought provoking life style message and used her own humorous experiences from the development of the Short Sheep Micro-Winery.
At the end of the year 2000, Sue’s husband Tony, announced he wanted to buy someland. Sue’s immediate response was “You don’t like mowing the lawn at weekends, what on earth are we going to do with several acres?” By the following June they had purchased a 36 acre block in Mudgee and began establishing a Vineyard, followed by building a house & cottage in 2004, with a Micro-Winery in 2009.
Initially they continued to live and work in Sydney and grew grapes and sold them to other winemakers, but in 2013 they made the decision to move and make their own wine. Along the way there were hurdles and set-backs. Sue and Tony learnt to be winemakers by “doing and googling”. One of Sue’s innovative suggestions was to use a flock of miniature sheep to maintain her vines.
Sue and Tony now run Babydoll Southdowns on their property. The breed, measures about 60cm to the shoulder and of course became the inspiration for naming of the Short Sheep Micro-Winery. The sheep are small enough to
go under the vines at any time of the year, because they are too short to reach the grapes or buds.
Sue recalled the time she delivered a lamb in the early hours using an iPad and a YouTube video which was an interesting introduction to rural life for a city woman turned vigneron.
In Sue’s words, “We are working the dream and the sheep are living the dream.”
