Hi, my name's Peter Svans and for the last 18 years we've owned The Gurdies Winery. Like you, I've loved my wines for as long as I can remember and this is our story how we went from being just wine lovers to being full on winemakers. It's how we moved from simply interested to passionate and obsessed and all the steps in between. As most wine lovers do, we started making wines by buying some grapes and turning the backyard into a suburban winery but then things changed. And like all great plans hatched over a few bottles of red we ignored reality and chased our dream to make our own wines on a much bigger scale. Then, after a lot of searching we bought the most amazing property overlooking the water and moved in on New Years Eve 1992.Since that time we've made and sold a helluva lot of wines, we've had hundreds of thousands of people through the cellar door and we've won our share of awards. And every time I talked to anyone about our winery I got pretty much the same reply;Wow, we've always wanted to own a wineryI've lost count of how many times I got that reply, it seems everyone I spoke to shared the dream of making their own wines. Well, we lived the dream for 18 years and sold the winery at a great profit in 2010.Now I've had time to sort through the pictures and write the words and this is our story of what it's really like to own a winery. It's not a textbook, it's not a finance manual and it's not a step-by-step how-to manual. It's what we did and how we did it and all the highs and lows we lived through in those 18 years. You get to see what happens in the vineyard through the year, from bare canes up to lush grapes. Have a look at what 'behind closed doors' vintage is like, scenes the public never gets to see and…Have you ever been to a function at a winery Well here's your chance to peek under the covers of festivals, functions, weddings and find out what makes a great function. And you get to see the times that make your spirit soar and live through the utter h