Betting on further success
Greg Melick was underage and living at home when he made his first significant wine investment. He won the daily double with a dollar bet and bought two cases of Hunter Valley red with his ill-gotten gain.
"The Werribee win wasn't exactly a sure thing," recalls the Hobart barrister, Senior Counsel and founder of Pressing Matters.
"It pays to do your homework."
It sure does. Especially in the wine world.
One look at the showpiece Melick and his business partner Anthony Hall have created in the Coal River Valley will tell you those prophetic words still ring true.
The welcome sign is out there, seven days a week.
Pressing Matters sprang into being in 2002 after Melick and his wife Michelle purchased a greenfield site adjoining Brenda and Peter Bosworth's 3ha Morningside Vineyard at Tea Tree.
More than half a lifetime of tasting, collecting and wine show judging told Melick he was backing a winner. The Bosworths were not just friends. They were industry pioneers. The couple bought their 35ha Morningside property in 1978, adding Riesling, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon two years later.
The only other venture in the valley was George and Priscilla Park's Stoney Vineyard, established outside Campania in 1973. More than a decade would pass before Swiss immigrant Peter Althaus took on ownership of Stoney to begin making his celebrated Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon.
"Michelle and I always liked the Riesling and Pinot Noir that Bos made; that was what brought us to Morningside," Melick says.
"Vines there enjoy a sunny, north-easterly aspect, with frost-free growing conditions. There's only about a metre of black cracking clay on top of free-draining limestone, so vine vigour and yields are naturally low while winemaking potential is huge."
It wasn't potential alone that led Anthony and Kay Hall to purchase Morningside in late 2019 and join forces with the Melicks.
The new arrangements came into effect just as Pressing Matters celebrated more than a decade of wine show success with its 30th trophy and 110th gold medal.
Fast forward to the present-day and some glittering prizes are more than skin deep.
Viticultural innovation and sustainability on the site resulted in Pressing Matters being awarded the 2024 Richard Langdon Trophy for Vineyard of the Year by the Royal Agricultural Show Society of Tasmania. An exhaustive program of new builds and refurbishments earned Hutchinson Builders nomination in the 2023 Awards for Excellence conducted by Master Builders Tasmania.
Worth a visit? You bet.
First published online 28 February 2025: tasmaniantimes.com
Last page update: 26 May 2026