A lifetimes dedication to food & wine

David has only ever wanted to be a winemaker, and to this day, that is what he does. Having helped his father plant the first vines on the Tinja property in ‘73, David went on to forge his own name in the winemaking industry. Graduating from Roseworthy College, David became head winemaker for Rothbury Estate by 21 and between vintages in Australia was one of the brat pack ‘Flying Winemakers’ who cheekily taught the French modern winemaking. Moving back to Mudgee to construct his own winery on Tinja, David completed his first vintage at ‘Lowe Wines’ in 2000. Constantly working with quality in mind, David converted operations at Tinja to certified organic in 2005 & biodynamics in 2011.

Known for his icon wine, Zinfandel, David also remains an industry leader in preservative free wines, such as our Bio-logicial PF Shiraz, as well as his gusty, quartz loving Shiraz such as Block 5. Today, alongside his usual winemaking & directing roles, you will find David out in our vineyards, working directly with the land as our vineyard manager to ensure we are producing the best quality fruit, in the most environmentally conscious way possible. Loving getting his hands dirty, David has just overseen the planting of our newest ‘Latin Quarter’ vineyard which is set to be the next evolution of wines from Lowe.

Over the years David has held various prestigious positions, including Vice President of the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia 2011 – 2015, President of the New South Wales Wine Industry Association 2008 – 2014 and President of the Mudgee Wine Grape Growers Association 2005 – 2011. In 2013 the NSW Minister for Agriculture awarded David the Graham Gregory Award for his contribution to the NSW Wine Industry, and in February 2014 he was awarded the Wine Communicators of Australia’s Legend of the Vine Award. Kicking off his long history with Zinfandel, David’s 2003 Zinfandel was awarded best Zinfandel at the International Wine Challenge, and his 2009 Zinfandel took out the Best Organic Wine at both the NSW Wine Awards and at the Australian & NZ Organic Wine Awards.

Kim has championed NSW regional dining & food for more than 3 decades with produce and producers always the central focus. Moving from New Zealand to Australia in 1982 Kim found herself in regional NSW, beginning her long history across the region. This includes establishing Farmers Markets in Orange, Mudgee, Bathurst and Cowra, as well as her own restaurant & eateries including The Rylstone Food Store and Bridge View Inn. Following a move to Orange in 2006, Kim helped solidify the region’s reputation as a wine & food leader while the executive officer of Brand Orange before returning to Mudgee in 2011 to join David at Lowe, working to establish the food & events offerings you see today.

Driven by her desire to showcase the exceptional regional food & wine Mudgee has to offer, combined with her talent for creating renowned food, Kim opened The Zin House restaurant in 2014. Backed by extensive gardens that continue to expand, Zin’s basis is simply to cook great food with what we & our neighbours grow – an ethos that landed it a Good Food Guide ‘Chef’s Hat’ in its 2nd year, and every year since. Today Kim oversees all the food & events across Lowe, Zin, The Pavilion and now, our town based patisserie & bakery ‘Althea by Zin’, while still finding time to save windfall fruit to pickle or effortlessly feed 80 people at Twilight Tapas.

Aside for The Zin House being awarded One Hat in the SMH Good Food Guide Awards annually since 2015, Kim’s other career acknowledgements include the Maggie Beer award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Food in 2005, the Jaguar Award for Excellence in Innovation & Travel 2001 (Central Ranges Food & Wine), Winner of NSW Rural Woman of the Year in 2009 and induction into the Sydney Morning Herald Food Hall of Fame in 2011. During 2011 – 2016 Kim also served as Chair of Fine Foods for the NSW Royal Agricultural Society.