Beyond Provence

摘要

BACK IN 2006, Hans and Helen van der Meulen, an Australian couple of Dutch extraction, were on one of their regular visits to Marlborough's Awatere Valley in the heart of sauvignon blanc territory. "We noticed a for sale sign on an old farmhouse we had long admired," recounts Helen. The Sydney-based van der Meulens own and manage a successful trans-Tasman clothing retail chain but they have strong links with the Awatere Valley going back more than 30 years, when Helen, a nurse at the time, formed a lasting friendship with a fellow nurse from the valley.