Over smoko (Aussie for morning coffee) in the Clare Valley town of Auburn, Jeffrey Grosset is toying with new year’s resolutions with the two women in his life, his partner Stephanie Toole (of Mount Horrocks) and their lively teenage daughter Georgina. Stephanie says she’s been much better lately about not spending every waking moment in the winery. Jeffrey, trying to get his mobile phone to work, says he’s been less successful in that department, joking that they might have to invest in a new BMW to get the free mobile phone.

Becky Wasserman will be opening a special bottle this year: a Jean-Noël Gagnard Blanchot, a Beaune Grèves from Lafarge perhaps, or, if she’s feeling flush, a Mugnier Musigny. Why? Because she’ll be celebrating 40 years in Burgundy. Quite a feat for a woman who arrived as 20-something from New York with an artist husband and two young children in tow at a time when most Americans were travelling to San Francisco with flowers in their hair.