Brandon Orr-Walker had always dreamed of making his own wine, and while working as a house surgeon at Blenheim Hospital in 1990 he befriended Barbara and Ross Lawson of Lawson's Dry Hills, who were then contract grape growers. They let him have some grapes which he hand-harvested, foot-pressed and cool-fermented in his refrigerator, and produced his first drops of wine. Brandon was hooked. Red wine was his passion. Inspired by Dick Scott's book Seven Lives on Salt River he became intrigued with the Kaipara region. Inspiration of another kind came from Australia where the small vineyard renaissance was led by medical luminaries such as Dr John Middleton (Mount Mary) in the Yarra Valley, Dr Max Lake (Lake's Folly) in the Hunter Valley, Drs Bill Pannell (Moss Wood), Kevin Cullen (Cullen) and Tom Cullity (Vasse Felix) at Margaret River, Western Australia. The achievements of these medical men remain a model, and the enjoyment of their wines motivation for striving for quality. The last bottle of Brandon's gewürztraminer was enjoyed by Barbara, Ross, Judy and Brandon in 1995 at Lawson's Dry Hills after a long day working at the Marlborough Wine and Food Festival, one month after bare farmland in South Head was purchased. The dream was now a reality. Brandon shares this venture with his wife Judy McIntosh who grew up near Maraekakaho Road, Hastings when it was bare farmland. They have 3 children.