Virago

Karen Coats was a tax accountant but has now completed the bachelor of wine science at CSU. It was her love of nebbiolo and the Beechworth region that made Virago Vineyard her new office of choice. Prue Keith is an orthopaedic surgeon but devotes her free time (whatever is not occupied by mountain biking, skiing and trekking to the peaks of mountains) to Virago Vineyard. The vines had been removed from the property long before Karen and Prue purchased it, but the existing terracing, old posts and broken wires laid down a challenge that was easily accepted, although the planting of nebbiolo was not so easy. The one and only Rick Kinzbrunner has a more than passing interest in nebbiolo, so it was inevitable that he would be the consultant winemaker. -JAMES HALLIDAY