Leap of faith lands pair in good stuff

Derek Fitzgerald remembers going to school when St Joseph’s Primary was still standing, and being a member of the first year 12 cohort to finish at Batemans Bay High School.

“I wanted to do petroleum engineering at the University of new South Wales – I had a scholarship lined up, but didn’t get the marks,” he said.

“I ended up doing chemical engineering at the University of Sydney, before going to backpack Europe.” 

While in the mother country, he met partner Kirsten, and found they shared an interest in wine.

“Coming from the South Coast, it’s not a huge wine producing region,” he said.

“Mum and Dad had a cask in the fridge most of the time, but Kirsten had come from Adelaide and had a real love of wine. It just flowed from there. When we flew home I did a vintage, then a graduate diploma, and I’ve been in the industry since.”

After 20 years making wine, including an award-winning stint at Thorn Clark, Derek and Kirsten felt the time was ripe to strike out on their own. They began their own label – Paisley wines – in 2016.

“Last year we laid our first vintage, and as of five months ago, we’re solely self employed,” Derek said.

“Starting small, we’re able to have complete control, so we can personalise the wine. You can’t appeal to everybody. We try to make wine we enjoy and hope other people feel the same.”

Derek said making the shift from engineering chemicals to engineering beverages had been a rewarding one.

“In any engineering position, you’re a small part of a big process,” he said.

“With wine, I’m involved from growing to bottling and even sales. I like all of it, I’m interested and passionate.

“Working for other people, even if you do well, you don’t necessarily get the accolades. Now everything we do is for us, and it’s exciting.”

His advice to those just starting out?

“Some people do well under pressure, but don’t get too stressed,” he said.

“You can be very successful doing a wide range of things. Follow what you’re passionate about and what you’re good at.

“I never thought I was a creative person in school, but I really enjoy the creativity involved in wine making.”

Kirsten Harvey described beginning Paisley Wines with partner Derek Fitzgerald as “a leap of faith”.

“I just said to him we have to do it, we have to grab our own destiny,” she said. Dionysus seems to have smiled on the leap, with the dynamic duo able to purchase a vineyard in the Barossa.

“It’s quite hard to buy a vineyard in the Barossa, especially a good one,” Kirsten said.

“Derek started ringing people, and someone would tell him to call someone else and in the end we found this vineyard – it wasn’t even on the market. 12 acres and a house: We’ll be moving in around September.

“We won’t get it until after vintage, but we will get some fruit on it so we can see what it’s like. The wine their fruit is going into at the moment is getting silvers, so it’s a good quality.”

In addition to the lifestyle change, Kirsten said the pair were indulging their creative side in design and marketing. She described the packaging for their Celtic range as “Classic and non-confrontational on the front, with a bit of personality on the back.”