Dexter

Tod Dexter was introduced to wine through a friendship between his parents and then leading Melbourne retailer Doug Crittenden. A skiing trip to the US indirectly led to Tod becoming an apprentice winemaker at Cakebread Cellars, a well-known Napa Valley winery, in 1979. After seven years he returned to Australia and the Mornington Peninsula, and began the establishment of the vineyard, planted to pinot noir (4 ha) and chardonnay (3.1 ha). To keep the wolves from the door he became winemaker at Stonier, and leased his vineyard to Stonier, the grapes always used in the Stonier Reserve range. Having left Stonier and spurred on by turning 50 in 2006 (and at the urging of friends), he and wife Debbie decided to establish the Dexter label. 
JAMES HALLIDAY