‘Just good to be doing it again’ Back to business for Terry and Julie

It has taken far longer than they ever thought, but Orange Mountain Wines is back open for business after two long years.

The disasters of 2020 played havoc with all our local wine businesses, from the bushfire smoke destroying a vintage to COVID lockdowns and ever-changing restrictions and regulations.

But for Terry and Julie Dolle at Orange Mountain Wines, bouncing back has been a more lengthy process than they initially expected.

“It started out as six months we were going to close down, but then it was 12 months, then it was 18 months — we had one bad year after another bad year and so it ended up being two years,” Terry said.

Like other vignerons across the state, smoke from the devastating bushfires in February 2020 rendered that year’s vintage worthless.

“The smoke taint destroyed us… we ditched all our grapes from 2020 and we didn't make any wine,” Terry said. 

“And then 2021 was a struggle as well. It was just a bit too wet and all the crop yields were down so there wasn't the volumes to make wine and we didn't have enough wine to release.”

While they still made some sales to wine club members and restaurants during this time, they simply didn’t have the range or the wine to sell.

“You can't blame them because if you don’t have anything to sell them they are not going to buy it,” Terry said.

While still a cool and wet vintage, 2022 has been a much better vintage for Orange Mountain Wines, said Terry, who is happy to have pallets of wine back in his cellar and customers returning to their new mezzanine tasting room overlooking his winery.

But Terry admits he was a bit rusty dealing with the public again after two years.

“The first time we had customers, we had a function with about 20 people and I stood up and started to do my thing and couldn't even remember where to begin!” he said.

“I managed to get through a ‘Good evening, welcome to Orange Mountain Wines, I'm Terry..." and then I was searching for something to say for about five minutes. I hadn't done that for so long!

“But it is just good to be doing it again. I was — not depressed, but a bit subdued being shut down for two years. You don't realise the person you are and what gets you out of bed in the morning until you actually are confronted with not having it.

“I feel better as a person to get back into it — and my bank account is looking much healthier!”