Australian Philippa Davern and New Zealander Sarah-Kate Wilson have a lot in common, despite the difference in their ages. For one thing, they both love wine. For another -- not entirely disconnected -- they both have the capacity to fall with assured delicacy on their own two feet.
The two women were in Tokyo last week to promote their wine label, WVE (for Wandin Valley Estate) and find the right distributor. Davern and her husband, James, own and run the vineyard; Wilson -- who turned 27 Tuesday, the day we met -- is their winemaker. Exhausted after a day at the Australian Embassy, participating in Australia's Wine Fair, they were happy to sit back and relax over a cappuccino (Wilson) and cup of green tea (Davern), explaining that this was the second leg of their trip, with rarely a moment to rest.
"We'd been advised to go to Malaysia, which is opening up fast as a market," explained Davern. "We've been talking to Japan for quite a while via the Internet, but it was time to expand. So we were in Malaysia last week, and return home Thursday."