We’d reached the yard again and I asked Pippa if she’d help me take the remaining boxes out of my car. Five minutes later I was all unloaded and dying for a cup of tea.

‘So I’ve learned about the grape growing part of the business,’ I said, inviting her into The Stables and putting the kettle on. ‘Who should I ask about how the wine is made?’

Pippa took off her sunhat and ran a hand through her hair. ‘Now that is the sixty-four-million-dollar question.’

I looked at her quizzically. ‘Why?’

Pippa took a deep breath. ‘Ted and his brother Ron used to make the wine together. Ron died five years ago in a motorbike accident. Marjorie was injured too, broke her spine, that’s why she’s in a wheelchair.’

‘I had no idea!’ I gasped. Poor Marjorie and yet I’d never met anyone so determinedly bright and cheerful. If I’d loved her before, now I was even more inspired.

‘So that left Ted to do it by himself. And now …’ Her voice faded and she shrugged. ‘There’s no one. Last year’s harvest is sitting in tanks waiting to be blended and bottled.’

‘So there could be ten thousand bottles’ worth of wine sitting in the tanks?’

She nodded. ‘Well, less than that, because we’ll keep some back for blending. And once it’s bottled, it’s another year before it’s ready for sale, which means that the previous vintage is now ready for sale. Matt and Clare are the two volunteers who help out in the winery, but Ted handled sales by himself.’

‘So another ten thousand bottles?’ I stared at her.

‘Then of course there’s the new crop on the vines. It’s only three or four months until harvest and we’ll need those tanks for the next pressing.’

‘What are we going to do?’ I said, feeling desperately out of my depth already. I passed her a mug.

Pippa looked at me meekly. ‘I don’t know. You’re the boss.’

That’s right, I thought with a gulp. I am. The notion that the next six months were going to be a time for stress-free healing and gentle reflection was beginning to evaporate like a morning mist.

Chapter 11

I spent the rest of the day touring the estate on the quadbike with a pad and pen, making a note of urgent jobs and creating a logical schedule for maintaining the vines and getting to grips with the various pesticides and fertilizers, and the machinery for applying them, all of which I found in an immaculately organized shed behind the winery.