Murrumbateman winemaker Stephanie Helm stamps her mark in the industry

Stephanie grew up on a winery, Helm wines in Murrumbateman, where her parents Ken and Judith Helm established one of the first wineries in the region.

"It sounds really strange but if you grow up on a farm you learn how to run the farm and shear sheep but for me I just happened to grow up on a winery so I learnt to make wine," she said.

"It was definitely a source of amusement and a bit of shock from my friends."

Stephanie's father taught her the steps but she always wanted to put her own stamp on things.

"I was doing it originally because Dad was doing it," she said.

"When it would come round to harvest that's when I would help Dad in the winery and he would let me pick out a little parcel of grapes and I would go from there."

Stephanie said she began experimenting with when to pick the grapes or using a different strain of yeast.

"It's kind of like cooking in a way, you do start to go 'well what happens if I change this process'."

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The experimentation paid off for Stephanie who won her first medal for a Chardonnay at the Cowra Wine show when she was only about 11-years-old.

"It was a bronze medal and they wouldn't let me into the show when they had the tastings on," she said.

Her success continued from there where she won the trophy for the best Cabernet in the Murrumbateman Cool Climate Wine Show, a national show, at 13.

"It was a really lovely one to enter because everyone knew me so there wasn't any kind of awkwardness about me being there which was great," she said.

Stephanie said her father encouraged them to pursue a career out of the industry, so she went to Australian National University for Arts/Law but was always still involved in the vineyard, helping on weekends and at harvest.

"Winemaking isn't something you see in the career guidebook at school," she said.

But after completing a wine assessment course in South Australia, Stephanie realised her passion for wine and enrolled in wine science at Charles Sturt University.

"While I was doing that degree, this property came on the market and it was perfect for Ben [her husband] and I to do our own thing and step out of Dad's shadow and start concentrating on pursuing our own dream," she said.

Purchasing a vineyard in Murrumbateman in September 2014 the first year was a blur with husband Ben Osborne looking after the vines and Stephanie producing the first wine in March 2015.

"Our first wine in that vintage in 2015 won best Reisling in the Winewise competition," she said.

"It was a really great way to come out because there was a fair bit of expectation starting out on my own about whether I'd be as good as Dad."

For Stephanie she enjoys that every day is something different and loves being a part of every step of the process.

"It's definitely that blend between art and science," she said.

"You can have all the technology in the world but if you don't have that passion for it and have that understanding of the vineyard and the grapes, then your wine isn't necessarily going to be great.

"It's a natural process and there's only so much you can control that so sometimes you just have to embrace the change and the different flavours you get each season and show them off."

As a pandemic project, with no vintage due to smoke taint, the pair focused on the vineyard and were looking for a way to cut down on herbicide use.

"I did some more research and found out about these Babydoll sheep," she said.

"I presented it to my husband as a bit of a business case because he was a bit sceptical at first, but after we did the calculations and thought, well this how many times we'd eliminate needing to slash and get people in to take the suckers off the vines, we thought it just makes sense."

Due to their short stature, short necks and muscly bodies Stephanie said the sheep are the "perfect lawn mowers" and they now graze under the vines almost all year round.

They now have about 30 in their flock which will steadily increase.

As well as sheep they also have a number of animals on the farm for tours including goats, chickens and a pair of emus with a European connection.

"We saw an ad on Gumtree and answered it," she said.

"Three months later we got an answer asking if we wanted to come and have a look at them and it turned out they were from the Swiss Embassy.

"We went there thinking maybe they were the caretakers but the Swiss Ambassador came out."

Stephanie said the ambassador had got the emus as pets for his daughters when they moved to Australia and the posting was finishing up so needed to sell them.

The emus had been taught tricks to help care for them including standing on scales and lifting their wings and had been regularly vet checked, so found their new home at The Vintners Daughter.

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