DAN TRAUCKI
NESTLED in the picturesque Adelaide Hills atop a 1.7-billion-year-old plateau at 425 metres above sea level, Paracombe Wines is somewhat different to most wineries. It started as a result of tragedy, when a brave young couple, Paul and Kathy Drogemuller, bought a burnt-out dairy farm following the devastating 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires. With no viticultural experience they were talked into planting vines on their new property by Andrew Garrett.
In the mid-1980s the South Australian Government sponsored a “vine pull” scheme in order to reduce the amount of grape vines in the state, due to a wine glut at the time. While most people were ripping