IT TOOK a decade for Sally Plunkett to turn her dream into reality, but now her fruit wines are starting to turn heads.
And she's doing her best to combat the common misconception of fruit wine as a sickly sweet juice with an alcoholic kick.
"That's not the case at all these days," she said.
"There's a big range available, just like grape wines, from dry to sweet."
Sally's wines are made from fruit grown on the family orchards at Ardmona, in northern Victoria's Goulburn Valley.
She uses pears, apples, blueberries, mulberries and apricots, blended with other flavours such as honey or passionfruit.
Apart from the initial phase of fruit preparation - such as removing the stones from apricots - and adding enzymes and yeast to ensure the fruit ferments properly, the rest of the winemaking process is similar to that employed in making wine from grapes.
"We got the idea 10 years ago when we were backpacking around Europe," she said.
"There were so many fruit wines available and we saw how popular they were with European consumers.
We thought it was a great idea for the Goulburn Valley where we grow such good-quality fruit - it was an obvious place to make fruit wine."
A former Department of Primary Industries dairy researcher, Sally said she "sat on" the idea until five years ago, when she began experimenting with different blends and different combinations of fruit.
The result is a range of five wines sold under the Thieves and Duffers label, which was launched last year.
Sally said there had been a lot of interest in the wines, especially among locals looking for an unusual gift or those attracted to the stories behind the label.
Each wine is named after a story drawn from the early history of Shepparton, which originated as a crossing on the Goulburn River used by gold miners travelling from Bendigo and Ballarat to the newer goldfields around Beechworth.
Sally said her personal favourites were the sweet Dare Devil Jack apricot port and the dry George's Clue blueberry wine, while the best sellers have been the apricot port and the Flying Log mulberry port.
The wines have attracted acclaim at several shows, winning one silver and three bronze medals at last month's Australian Fruit Wine Show in Tasmania.
Sally said she planned to increase production of the most-popular wines this year, continue experimenting, and take her wines to weekend markets to get more feedback.
The wines retail for $20-$22 a bottle from the cellar door and at the Thieves and Duffers website.
