As bushfires raged towards his property, Michael Archer thought it was the end of a dream he had spent most of his life chasing.
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In 2017, together with wife Katrina, they bought a seven-acre property in Exeter with the intention of opening a winery and cellar door.
Through drought, bushfires and a global pandemic they are still here and finally ready to open Dawning Day Wines to the public.
Michael said it was fitting where the recently-completed cellar door stood.
"It's pretty funny. Where the cellar door is was on fire in January 2020," he told the Southern Highland News.
"We had an ember attack here and it lit up the front paddock which is exactly where the new building is, so a beauty rising up from the ashes.
"I was planning on staying around, getting the wet towels ready and embers started flying in. Then all these alerts started popping up on Fires Near Me.
"I was thinking we'll take the kids down to the Moss Vale evacuation centre but the kids opened the door and started screaming because there was a fire in the front yard so I was told I was going with the family to the evacuation centre.
"We called the RFS on the way out and they managed to save it."
The winery, which produces cool climate wines such as pinot noir, chardonnay and gamay, will officially welcome people from Friday November 12.
Michael said they were excited to get going after carefully tending to the vines for four years.
"We moved here about four years ago and planted a little vineyard in Exeter on a seven-acre property with about half of that vines," he explained.
"I've been tending that for the past four years. They haven't had a very easy life because we had drought for the first two years, then bushfires but we got a fair bit of water last year so that was good.
"This year we're finally going to get our first decent size crop which will be good, we're very excited about that."
That crop will be the culmination of years of hard work and vision with Michael taking a leap of faith over a decade ago to get where he is today.
"To own a vineyard has always been the dream," he revealed.
"Going out to the wine regions like Mudgee, Hunter Valley and Orange, I've always liked exploring the little places where you can sit down and have a chat with the winemaker and ask a lot of questions.
"Probably 12 years ago I was in a corporate job and I had a mentor there who asked what my long term plan was and I said to own a vineyard. He said 'well what are you doing about it?'
"That was a bit of a wakeup call so I quit two weeks later. I started up a wine wholesale business which we still currently do but that progressed along, one thing led to another and we bought this bit of land and moved."
To book simply head to Dawning Day's website while Michael recommends visitors pair the sunny Highlands weather with a rose.
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