Cellar Door Conversations: Linda
Meet Linda Morice
Owner of Sinapius Wines
2020 was a tumultuous year for many. But for Linda Morice, it was a year she never expected when her husband Vaughn Dell, aged just 39, died suddenly in his sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition. Needless to say, it has been an incredibly tough path to walk on her own, but with the support of family, friends and industry colleagues, and an established brand built on their combined integrity and sheer grit, she knows what it will take to continue Vaughn’s legacy in this next chapter of the Sinapius wine brand.
How did the Sinapius brand begin?
Vaughn and I were really passionate about wanting to find a vineyard, just the right size, and one that we could manage on our own. I say we, but really, at the beginning, it was Vaughn who was laser focused on this vision on making estate grown wine, and I trusted him. I’m a qualified Occupational Therapist so I’ve done that alongside the business, as well as raising our beautiful girls. But now, since losing Vaughn, I’m determined to take on the winemaking and winegrowing as there are so many more things to achieve.
Our brand has grown organically; we haven’t pushed Sinapius by marketing it or anything like that. Instead, we have worked hard on placing our wine in the right places, like high-end restaurants, and in front of the right people, like reputable sommeliers and industry people, and anything else has been because the wine has told the story.
Where does the name come from?
The name Sinapius (pronounced Sin-ay-pee-us) is actually a family name. My great great great grandmother was Isabella Sinapius. Her father immigrated from Prussia in Germany to South Australia in the early 1800’s. She married and her eldest daughter married my great grandfather. They settled in the far north west coast of Tasmania, and this is where my roots lie. It was a pretty unique and interesting name, so for us, it seemed fitting.
There is also some dual meaning with the name as ‘Sinapis’ is the botanical name for plants in the Brassicaceae family. Many of these grow on our property and their distinctive four petal Cruciferae flower was the inspiration of the Sinapius motif.
How are your personal values reflected in the Sinapius brand?
Integrity is really important to the Sinapius brand. We are honest people making honest wine. There’s no bells and whistles or a whole lot of marketing fluff to sell it – it’s simply about people experiencing our wines and then loving them enough to tell someone else.
We dare to be different. As well as make the best possible chardonnay and pinot noir we possibly could, our love for a diverse range of wines from other cool climates in Europe led us to sourcing and planting another nine different varieties. Some more well known, but a few less familiar including Gamay, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc and Ribolla Gialla.
Hardworking and determined is also very much at the core of the business success. Vaughn and I worked incredibly hard since we bought the property back in 2005. Vaughn planted all 30,000 vines with his own bare hands (amongst other things). There would have been so many other, easier, ways to have gone about establishing our vineyard but we never took the easy road. With a focus always on producing wine of the highest quality, we really took things to the next level and chose to plant vines at 3-4 times the planting density of most Australian Vineyards. This meant we needed specialist equipment (not found in Australia) to manage the vineyard. This type of viticulture also requires much much more manual labour to manage. And at the end of the day, the yields are extremely low – but that’s the aim, so we get the most concentrated, highest quality juice, possible.
Our wine brand is unique in lots of ways. From the vineyard planting density, multiple clones and varieties planted, our vineyard site, to our winemaking philosophies. Essentially when it comes to winemaking, we intervene as little as possible, using natural ferments with little to no sulphur till bottling, long lees aging in barrel, and no fining or filtration. We don’t, however, think the winemaking side is anything special, as for us it’s all about the work is done in the vines before the fruit arrives in the winery.
Sinapius is also unique as the grapes we grow are turned into wine at our onsite winery. We also carry out all the bottling too so it’s a closed loop circuit from vine to bottle before the wines are sold to our customers.
Was this always your chosen career?
Although I’ve worked in the healthcare industry for the past 16 years as an occupational therapist, I’m originally the far north west coast of Tasmania and am a farm girl at heart. My experience of living on the land with dairy and beef cattle and working with the seasons is in my blood. So is driving a tractor! In fact, I first taught Vaughn how to drive a tractor in preparation for his first vineyard job in the Yarra Valley.
What can someone expect from Sinapius wines?
Our goal was, and always will be, to make wines that are interesting, distinctive and expressive. At the end of the day, wine is designed to be enjoyed. Sinapius wines are more along the savoury lines which makes them the perfect accompaniment to food. It’s exciting to see our wines paired well with food on the social channels. A hallmark of Sinapius wine is also the texture and length as a result of the low yielding, high density planted vines.
Wines should connect us with a place, a memory, so I want people to feel connected to our special patch of dirt.
Sinapius wines are featured in several of the current Wines of Tasmania boxes. Visit our shop to order your subscription now.