Rob Davidson arrived in the Granite Belt set on pursuing his lifelong dream of owning and running a vineyard. With almost 40 years under his belt as a chef, operating several successful restaurants in Canberra, Melbourne and Noosa, Rob was intent on putting his particular skill set to use to create some truly unique wines from a truly unique terroir. But only a few months in, he and partner Judy were plagued by the perils of a seemingly interminable drought and ultimately, in 2019, fires which ravaged much of Ballandean. Rob and Judy, after having owned the vineyard for little more than a year, lost more than half of their established vines within the course of an afternoon; and as cruel irony would have it, it rained the very next day. But from the fire rises the Pheonix. Using the knowledge learnt from this bitter experience, Rob took the opportunity to turn to varietals which are better placed to handle the increasingly dry periods which we experience here on the Granite Belt whilst implementing a system to better safeguard the vineyard from fire. In 2021 the hardwork finally came to fruition, 4382 Terroir was awarded one gold and several silver medals at the Australian Small Winemarkers Show. Now, with multiple new varietals set to flourish in the next few years and a brilliant winemaking collaboration, the future is looking bright.

Meet The Team

  • Rob Davidson

    He's the man with the insatiable energy, the passion and the drive behind 4382 Terroir. He is the everything! the owner, the viticulturalist, the producer, the manager and the chef. But perhaps most importantly, he is the life blood of this brave endeavour.

  • Peter Watters

    Some call him the Mayor of Ballandean, there isn't much Pete doesn't know about the place. He's our viticulturalist and he was playing in this soil around the same time the first vines were planted in the area.

  • Red Dog

    Protecter of the flock, minder of the vines and of course shop dog. A visit to our cellar door isn't complete without seeing this little red scally-wag.

Vineyard Biodiversity

Biodiversity is an important aspect of our viticultural process; to our way of thinking a grape vine which is receiving the nutrients it requires is going to yield good quality fruit. It is for this reason that we aspire to put into the land as much as we take from it. Following the end of vintage, the vineyard rows are sowed with a variety of nitrogen-rich winter crops. During the bare winter months our resident flock of dorper sheep, who descend from Houdini himself, gorge themselves on the tops of these crops and leave a particluarly nutrient-rich resource of their own which is later turned back into the earth to feed our precious vines.

Our large open expanses of untouched pasture play an important part of their own. These verdant fields are full of wildflowers and pollinators and, whilst most commercial varieties of Vitis Vinefera are self-pollinating, our winter cover crops are not, requiring bees and other pollinators to proliferate. These winter crops don't just feed our sheep, they minimise erosion, improve and increase organic matter in the soil and help to suppress weeds. This polinator's nirvana is crucial in maintaining a diverse ecosystem between equinoxes.