As part of an Italian migrant family, she spent the first five years of her life in Coober Pedy, where her father was an opal miner. From there the family moved to Bowral. Carla gained a Sydney University microbiology degree and headed overseas to a day job in a London hospital pathology laboratory and as a night-time wine bar casual. That and tasting the Australian Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz brought a deep desire to make wines of comparable character.

Back in Australia in 1997, Carla worked as a pharmaceutical clinical trials research associate but still nursed wine dreams and set out to realise them with a Charles Sturt University wine science degree. She completed her last Sturt residential school in 2004 with her nine-week-old daughter Mia in tow but, despite plenty of hands-on experience from vintages at Tamburlaine in the Hunter and at Orange, Macedon Ranges and Willamett, Oregon, Carla found it hard to get wine jobs. That brought a characteristic can-do response: in 2003 she bought 650-metre-altitude land at Charleys Forest outside Braidwood and with the help of her builder husband Andrew Bennett planted a one-hectare vineyard. And, while waiting for the vines to produce, Carla in 2014 used a winery set up in the shed at the family's Bungendore home to make the first Sapling Yard wines from 2013 grapes bought from Canberra growers.

Named for its many eucalyptus saplings and the creek flowing across it, Charleys Forest vineyard produced its first grapes in 2014. Today its pinot noir, gamay, riesling, pinot blanc and tempranillo grapes are added to fruit purchased from Boorowa, Young, Tumbarumba and Murrumbateman and Lake George Canberra wine district vines.

Carla kept winemaking in the tiny shed winery for five years up to 2018 after which Malcolm Burdett joined Sapling Yard as a partner and joint winemaker and production shifted to the largely decommissioned Lake George winery. Malcolm has 20 years' Canberra wine experience with seven years at Doonkuna and 13 years as Lerida Estate winemaker. Although bushfires and smoke taint have cut Sapling Yard's 2020 vintage, the Lake George winery has helped Carla and Malcolm lift their 2019 production to 500 cases, plus a further 1000 through Naked Wines' online Bare Branches brand Hilltops Shiraz and Canberra Shiraz. That contrasts with the 50 cases Carla made in her inaugural 2013 wines.

Carla says juggling her priorities in her day job as a clinical trials project manager with her passion for wine has its challenges, but she has a long-term goal to create a wildlife sanctuary on the unused land at Sapling Yard vineyard Charleys Forest site and establishing a walk in the Budawang National Park similar to the ones in Tasmania.

THE Sapling Yard 2018 Shiraz-Viognier and today's other wines are at saplingyard.com.au and ACT bottle shops and restaurants. This 13.5% alcohol red is bright garnet and potpourri-scented. The front palate shows spicy blackcurrant flavour, the middle palate Morello cherry, licorice, black pepper and toasty oak and a ferric tannin finish.

PRICE: $32.

DRINK WITH: lasagne.

AGEING: five years.

RATING: 4 stars

THIS 30% viognier, 13.5% alcohol Sapling Yard 2019 The Curmudgeon Shiraz is "meant to soothe the most bad-tempered miser", says the back label, and I concur. It displays purple-tinted crimson hues, vibrant plum front-palate flavour, middle-palate cassis, spice, coffee cream chocolate and savoury oak and a finish of minty tannins.

PRICE: $45.

DRINK WITH: osso bucco.

AGEING: eight years.

RATING: 4.5 stars

NAMED for the graceful ballet leap, the Sapling Yard 2017 Entrechat sparkler is a chardonnay-pinot noir base blend. It has busy medium-fine bubbles and blush pink-tinged straw hues. The nose shows peachy scents, the front palate crisp grapefruit flavour, the middle palate pear, sherbet and brioche characters and the finish flinty acid.

PRICE: $23.

DRINK WITH: antipasto.

AGEING: three years.

RATING: 4 stars