THE BLIND CORNER STORY — THE LONGISH VERSION (KIND OF)
In which we buy a vineyard, sell a house, surf a lot, chase birds, and grow more than just grapes.
We’ve never really told the full story of Blind Corner. In a world addicted to fast content and short attention spans, we’ve been busy farming, fermenting, and figuring it all out on the fly. But here it is—finally—a long-form love letter to our land, our crew, and this mad, beautiful ride.
The Very Beginning (2005),
We bought our first vineyard in 2005—15 acres in Wilyabrup, Margaret River. Not the posh side near Caves Road. We were in the Bronx: bordering Bussell Highway and a little rough around the edges. Ben sold his house to buy the property. We moved into a rental 20 minutes away and sold our fruit to the winery Ben was working at. We lived lean and simple.
Then came the adventure bug.
We packed up our life, moved to the UK for two years, and came back for harvests. In between, we bought an old red builder’s van in Brighton, chucked in some surfboards and WSET wine study textbooks, and headed for the vineyards and surf breaks of Europe. I studied world wine theory, we tasted plenty of ancient juice in ancient cellars, and free camped by the coast to surf and plot a new way forward. Plus Ben did a good job of researching all the best cheap supermarket beers all the way round!
That slow journey changed everything. We fell in love with biodynamic vineyards —wild, alive, buzzing with birds and bugs. I can still remember the smell of Clos de la Coulee de Serrant as we walked alongside the vineyard in the Loire Valley. The wines were pure, unadulterated, unforgettable. We thought: this is it.
From Champagne through to Burgundy, up the Loire, down to Bordeaux after a nice break surfing the coast, then onto Spanish north coast, too much Cidre. Plenty of delicious whites in Rias Biaxas. Ports in Porto. Vinho Verde and sunsets, after endless waves on uncrowded beaches along the coast of Portugal. Sherries in Spains South, a few rough reds in Morrocco, a camel ride through the desert and that obligatory Rug purchase over Mint tea. Back up through Spain, and a few days in Rioja to finish it off. Then back on the ferry to UK.
The more vineyards we visited that were Biodynamic the more we were convinced this was the only way we wanted to farm and make wine when we returned home to Margaret River.
Coming Home With a New Mission
Arriving back home in 2008, with the GFC in full force and chaos everywhere, we were fired up. We wanted our vineyard to be vibrant, full of life and noisy with nature. We believed in making wine with no additives—just grapes doing their thing. We had zero money, so had to be pretty inventive and innovative and can well and truly say you do not need much money to start making wine.
But it was hard yakka. Four types of invasive grass, snails, vine diseases, and not a dollar to spare. We both worked other jobs and spent everything on the vineyard. In 2009, we bottled our first Blind Corner wines.
For the next few years, we tried it all: sowing mid-row crops, spraying BD preps, squashing weevils by hand, composting, netting, and bringing in a bird-chasing dog. We built a small house, had two sons, and constructed an illegal winery in our shed. It was chaos and joy and full tilt all the time. And the land? It started to come back alive.
We planted fruit trees and a large vegie patch to live off. The farmer over the back paddock would drop off a black garbage bag full of grass fed beef cut up, in exchange for wine. Life was fairly darn simple.
The Natural Wine Movement
Perth’s small bar scene exploded around this time during post GFC. Chefs and Sommeliers were looking for something different, and we had just the thing. Our wines hit their stride, and so did we.
We met our kindred spirits—Sarah and Iwo from Si Vintners—and realised we weren’t the only misfits out west. We weren’t alone.
Being the first WA producer of Petillant Naturel (Pet Nat) and Orange wine and chilled red (Nouveau)we started to gather momentum, and struggled to keep up with demand. The wines started selling out faster. We expanded our crew. We leased another vineyard up the road—bigger, better water, same tired soils. Over two years, we applied everything we’d learned. No chemicals, lots of compost and BD. Slowly, it started healing and came back to life.
All In — The Big Leap
Eventually, we needed more space. In 2016 with a rare unicorn of a bank manager behind us, we sold our first property and bought a 70-acre site further north. No house. Just plenty vines and plenty of potential in a commercial, conventionally farmed zone.
We rented in town—hard after so much space—but it gave us clarity. We got stuck in. 50 acres of Vineyard to convert to Certified Organic and Biodynamic, at the time it was the largest certified single vineyard in WA,. Back to the grind again. Many said it couldn’t be done. But we gave it a crack anyway. We started with Chenin Blanc, one of the unsung heroes of Margaret River, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz (another sneaky hero of Margaret River and our growing Climate).
Over the next couple of years we grafted some of the 25 year old existing vines across to some fresh new varieties, decent clones of Sangiovese, WA's first planting of Aligote, Semillon, Merlot and Pinot Grigio - for a skin contact Fruili style. Delicious!
We fitted out the sheds with borrowed and secondhand gear. Ben found a busted old press in the bush of a nearby property for $2,000. Murray, our electrician wizard, fixed it. We named it The Bush Press.
The Vineyard Grows Up
Fast forward another 9 years. We’ve got a house on the land again, and the place is alive. Mid-rows buzz with bees, birds feast on seeds and bugs, and the soil is shaded and rich. We’ve got some beehives, a biodiesel system (made from fish and chip oil), chickens, a worm farm, a giant compost pile, and enough veggies to feed the crew.
But Certified Organic and Biodynamic weren’t enough. We turned to Regenerative Viticulture.
That’s when things really clicked.
Regenerative Vineyard Farming: A New Layer
We realised that just removing synthetic chemicals wasn’t the end goal—restoring balance was. So we started filling the vineyard gaps with native shrubs and plenty of Saltbush, transplanting self-sown lavender from the Dam banks through the Sangiovese, crimping the midrow crops rather than tilling the soil every year, and encouraging kangaroos to roam throughout.
Soil carbon increased dramatically when we started crimping, moisture levels in the top soils during summer.
What is crimping? Crimping is letting the midrow crops grow tall and go to seed, then we fold them down with a roller, then allows a composting matting to form over the top soil, trapping in the moisture. The seeds dry out, patiently nestled against the soil and when the first rains arrive the new season seeds start growing, and then repeat. The ultimate mid row regeneration. No need to till the soils or buy more seeds every year.
We planted 1000's of new trees. We sowed cover crops and native grass strips along the vineyard edges to help seed diversity. We’re experimenting constantly. You name it then we've probably given it a crack.
The soil’s the star now. Just like human health starts in the gut, vineyard health starts in the ground. Balance below leads to abundance above.
Wine, Equipment & Innovation
We’re not fancy. We’re creative. From day one almost everything we used started as secondhand, borrowed, or DIY. Our 1988 bottling line was pulled apart (once again, Murray is a wizard)and rebuilt with love.
In 2020, we scored an R&D grant to build a bigger winery, so now we can grow and process everything on-site. There's a few shiny new things which is pretty nice after 20 years.
We now produce a wide range of wines—most with minimal sulphur, the others? - just grapes (zero-zero). Turns out you can do it on a larger scale. We buried 2 x Georgian qvevris in the bush and ferment our Chenin inside them to make the Evangeline. We press, seal, and forget about them until it’s time to open the lid with friends and a few cold beers. Wine meets ancient tradition meets backyard party.
We bottle everything on site using our resurrected bottling line. We ship some wine in kegs to reduce packaging, use biodegradable wrap when we have to, and tie down pallets with straps. Waste not, want not. And of course there is the Solar power covering the shed roof.
The Crew & The Culture
Over half our wine stays in Western Australia. We’re WA born and bred, and the local support has meant the world.
We also made some internal changes based on workplace research: our full time team worked four days a week on full pay, we put in a skate ramp (insurance did not like that), a dam jetty for summer dips, almost a sauna and a shared culture of good vibes and hard work.
Our families pitch in too—Ben’s folk have us over for weekly dinners and look after the kids if we are away on work trips, my dad helped us build our Cellar Door and gets on the tractor throughout the year. Plus our closest friends who have helped perk us up when times were tough. Community and family is everything.
During those years we continued to duck off traveling, usually when I could twist Ben's arm into hiring a motor home. We explored the regions of Rhone, Beaujolais, Provence and the inspirational town of AOP Baux de Provence, where all the region is Organic. California's coast, through Napa and Sonoma, Mendocino down to San Diego. Mendoza in Argentina and on and on...
In all the of these places over the years we searched out like minded producers, small bars and old friends.
The Next Chapter
In 2021, we took on another vineyard—neglected, organic, nestled by the sea. It needed work, but we’d learned this lesson well: start with the soil, and the rest follows.
We excitedly brought it back to life and tasted what the sea breezes and healthy soils will brought to the fabulous Grenache grown on that site.
Post Covid we realised how hectic it had all been from years of growing and pushing. Our boys grew into teenagers and we noticed our priorities were changing. We wanted to have adventures with them while we still could. Our small team slowly drifted off to greater things and we slowly shrunk the business, closed cellar door and went off to have a 9 month trip with our teenagers before they hit Senior high school. This time we explored Savoie, Jura, Modena, Turin and back to Spain.
With a bit of time and a refresh we love what we do in our corner of the world, the reduction in Vineyard area has been a game changer. We have planted the South and West sides of the property back to native bush, pulled out rows of vines in front of cellar door for more grass, yep, ready for opening again and events on the grass. In any available space we are busy planting as many different types of native and or edible plants as we can manage.
Healthy soils are still our main focus, and more important than ever to ride out the extreme weather and unpredictability, which seems to be increasing.
Final Thoughts (For Now)
Blind Corner has never been about playing it safe. We’ve always taken the long way around—learning as we go, falling down and getting up, chasing better wine, deeper soils, and a more truly sustainable way of farming. Enhancing a diverse ecosystem we are proud to call home.
We share what we’ve learned. We welcome curiosity. All we ask is that you respect the land and pay it forward.
This story is still unfolding. There are more blind corners ahead, and that’s the point.
You never know what’s around the bend. Just expect the unexpected—and bring snacks.
So that’s us—Blind Corner. Making wine with nothing but grapes, stubborn optimism, and a whole lot of love for this patch of the planet we call home.
Thanks for reading
Cheers
Ben and Naomi.
