Taking an alternative route

The glasses are polished and the final touches have been added at the Surf Coast’s newest cellar door as it opens to the community.

Alt Rd Wines is Katie and Travis Alstin’s newest adventure, with the pair swapping their day jobs and everything they knew to run a vineyard and learn all about wine.

After more than two years of renovations and property improvements, the pair have reached a point where they’re happy to relaunch the brand and business and officially opened their cellar door in Winchelsea South yesterday (Saturday, November 2).

The pair had the idealistic fairytale of living on a vineyard and winery in their minds when they took over the property, quickly learning how much work was involved.

“We’ve learned a whole lot along the way, we’ve had to really quickly learn how to manage a vineyard, how to make wine and keep up with all that side of it too,” Katie said.

 

The reasoning behind the lifestyle change was the pairs lifelong plan of working towards getting back to land.

Following their honeymoon travelling around the West Coast of Australia in a Troopy, they felt a sense of adrenaline, excitement and freedom, and returned home to see the vineyard on the market.

“We thought ‘Yeah, we can do a career change as well as a lifestyle change, as well as having our first child all at once’, and we have done it, but not without a whole lot of stress and hard work.”

Katie said with every challenge they’ve had along the way, the wins are what they’re really grateful for and especially the part of the world their business is in.

“Being here, in this location is amazing, but also having the fresh air, watching the sunsets, all those generic things that people write on a dating profile, I think, sometimes they’re underappreciated, when we got out here, we make a note of when the sunsets on and we go out and sit and watch it.

“We’ve got the kookaburras flying over, we’ve got the echidnas crawling around the ground as we work, it’s just the sense of space and freedom out here is the best part.”

 

The winery is completely family-owned, and the opening of the cellar door provides Katie and Travis with the opportunity to invite people in.

“It’s just been Travis and I trying to do everything and we get amazing help from family and friends, which is great, they’ve all got to share it with us,” Katie said.

“Getting to invite people in now, to properly show them what we’ve been setting out to achieve, that’s exciting.”

Along with serving their own wines, the team at Alt Rd Wines will also have some small food options on the menu, including grazing platters and cheese bords, occasionally bringing in food trucks.

Alt Rd Wines is a dry climate winery, producing Rose, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Shiraz from grapes grown on site.

“Our wines are made start to finish by us, with our hands and if there’s anyone else that comes to help us, it’s my mum and dad,” Katie said.

“You know that what you’re getting has been grown and picked and bottled here, by us with a whole lot of love,”

 

“We’re using sustainable farming practices and then when we make the wine itself, we do minimal additives, we’re not a natural wine, but we just make sure that we’re not adding anything that’s not needed,” Katie said.

The label on their wines reads “Pair it with whatever you please and sip it however you like, this is your moment”. Katie said the quote was designed to express that the winery did not want to quiz people on their taste or what they like, and strove to create a place people can have fun and enjoy wine without having to overthink it.

The desire to create a familiar, comfortable and picturesque space, something that feels like their guests are hanging out in a friend’s backyard, was the inspiration behind the vibe and atmosphere of the cellar door.

With a coat of paint, resealed floors and a new bar area, the cellar door has been transformed into what Katie describes as inviting and relaxing.

“We want it just to be a place you want to come and chill out, to come and have a look at it, to come and show off to friends, it’s going be very accessible to a lot of people, so we hope that we’re really embraced once we are open.”

 

The couple have also included their love of music into the winery, with plans for live performances from local and travelling artists alike, adding another live music option to the region.

“We want to give people that option to come and see those type of artists in a relaxed daytime setting on a picnic rug with some wine and some cheese.”

Katie and Travis have embraced the adventure, although a winery was never something they had specifically planned, it wasn’t a surprise to their friends and family.

The pair have never followed the obvious path in life, with the name Alt Rd Wines reflecting this.

“We never take the highway option in our life,” Katie said.

“We always take a bit of a different route, we travel the less travelled path, we like something that’s a bit different.

“The vineyard and winery was certainly a little bit different but in saying that, I think nothing’s ever out of the question for us to it just made sense.”

For more information, head to altroad.com.au