In 1984, Lindsay McCall bought a derelict orchard on a beautiful north-facing block in Red Hill South, Australia. A year later, after clearing the ten-acre property, he began planting vines. For a decade McCall juggled his full-time role as a Geography teacher with establishing the vineyard and making wine. Picking was scheduled for weekends, and he was often up all night pressing grapes.

In 1995, he was finally able to give up his day job and become a full-time winemaker. By the late nineties, the Paringa wines were winning numerous awards, so it was time for McCall to pursue another vision: to open a restaurant. He wanted food that would match the quality of his wines, and the Paringa Restaurant opened in 1999, overlooking the undulating slopes of the home vineyard. In 2013, Paringa Estate confirmed its position as one of the premier food and wine destinations in the region when the restaurant was awarded a Chef’s Hat in The Age Good Food Guide. It has achieved this every year since.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? My idea of perfect happiness is watching the Australians win a test match in the members’ enclosure at Lords Cricket Ground whilst enjoying a glass of Grand Cru Burgundy, or else Essendon beating Collingwood in a Grand Final by 50 points.

What is the best thing you can do with your hands? Plant more vines.

What do you love most about what you do? I come from a farming background, so to be on the land is part of my DNA. After my first career in teaching, where I was inside a classroom all day, it’s great to be outdoors most of the time. I’m either on my tractor or gator in the vineyards.

When was the last time you ate out, and where? Most Sunday or Monday nights we go to our local Japanese restaurant in Balnarring, Orita’s. We love the simple, fresh flavours and high-quality ingredients. It’s BYO during the week, so I’ll find a good bottle of Burgundy from the cellar to enjoy with the meal.

Are there any mentors or food heroes you would like to thank? Early in my teaching career, when I was first discovering the world of wine, I tasted a bottle of 1980 Seville Estate Shiraz made by the late Peter G. McMahon. Until I tasted that wine, I didn’t realise that such a perfumed, elegant, and complex wine could be made in Victoria. It inspired me to buy a block of land for a vineyard and, against all advice, plant Shiraz. The rest, I suppose, is history as they say.