HUNTER VALLEY, Australia -- A two-hour drive north of Sydney, the street where I live in the Hunter Valley town of Cessnock is named O'Shea Circuit after the man regarded as the father of modern Australian winemaking, the late Maurice O'Shea. His workplace, at the Mount Pleasant vineyard, is a five-minute drive away.
O'Shea, who died in 1956 aged just 58, spent 30 years at his hillside vineyard, creating wines that would set the Australian standard for elegance, intensity and longevity. Every time I pass the Mount Pleasant vineyard and admire the beauty of its setting, I also think of the hardships O'Shea endured there in the 1920s -- no electricity, no running water, no car -- just a kerosene stove and a shack for shelter.
