The path less travelled
Published in The Australian Jewish News
January 21, 2021
What do a lawyer turned medicine weaver, a beer brewer, a sexologist and a young guy determined to make wine like his grandmother all have in common? Melissa Abrahams, Benyomin Cylich, Dr Nikki Goldstein and Richie Harkham have all taken less conventional roads to career fulfilment. They share their journeys.
Richie Harkham
Fifteen years ago, Richie Harkham bought a vineyard in the Hunter Valley. While it was the first time the entrepreneurial Sydneysider tried his hand at winemaking, the craft long ran through the veins of his family.
Having fled from Iraq, Richie’s grandmother Aziza Harkham made wine in Zichron Yaakov, part of Israel’s renowned Carmel wine region. Using no electricity and scarce running water in the process, she kept the elixir in terracotta pots to ferment under the house, an ancient winemaking technique used by the Romans.
“I started making the same wines that she made,” tells Richie, “and every few years, I had an artist from South Australia build 300 litre, massive terracotta clay amphoras.
“Every day you hand plunge it. We seal it with beeswax once it finishes fermentation and then we bury it under the ground for six months, the same way they used to make wine thousands of years ago.
“There is a real magic in winemaking, and it is a real blessing.”