Deviation Road winery was created by Hamish Laurie using the fruit from the Lenswood family vineyards that used to go into Hillstowe’s wines. In 2000 Kate joined him and the pair have been making the wine together ever since.

Kate obtained her winemaking degree from the Lycee Viticole d’Avize, in Champagne France in 1997. The next 4 vintages saw her working with her father, Syd, at Stone Bridge in another cool climate Manjimup, WA. Here she specialized in producing premium, bottle fermented and aged sparkling. The first Deviation Road Sparkling will be released in a couple of years, and she is now also focusing on mastering Pinot Gris.

Hamish continues a five-generation family tradition, started by his great great grandmother, Mary Laurie, who was South Australia ’s first female winemaker. Hamish joined his father, Dr Chris Laurie in 1992 to help build the family’s Hillstowe Winery into a significant Adelaide Hills label, where he worked for 8 years until it was sold in 2000. Prior to that he worked in wine sales and export for Negociants Australia, which gave him many important insights into the domestic and overseas wine markets.