Itty Bitty Wine Company

Ian Tattersall explains he had been interested in wine since the early years of attending medical school in the '80s, 'despite being exposed to over-oaked chardonnays, grassy NZ savvies, and fruit and oak bomb red wines, I developed a passion for the complexity of pinot noir wines, and the power of champagnes (particularly enjoying exploring the world of grower champagnes'. In 1995 he built a house on a property in Lenswood that could potentially suit a small vineyard, but needed more energy and dollars to actually plant the vineyard. He did, however, graduate from the University of Adelaide graduate diploma of oenology course. Itty Bitty Wine Company took a further step towards reality with the conversion of a shed on the property to become a winery facility, self-limiting in size of production at ± 150 dozen bottles. There was a further limitation, the council giving him approval to only process 10t per vintage. He dryly observes 'I guess the name is unlikely to need changing for reasons of accuracy'. The main challenges he found were in procuring super-small winery equipment, but with perseverance, acquired a little crusher, little fermenters, little presses and little pumps. He even found a label printer prepared to do business. His current plans are to maintain the status quo, find a customer base and leave further expansion until partial or full retirement of the stethoscope. Where he goes from there is written in the sand. -JAMES HALLIDAY