Finding perfection on the island of Sicily

PETER Vinding-Diers, poet by heritage, wine-maker by choice, flies his own flag and sails on regardless. He has now settled in Sicily and it looks as if the peripatetic Peter has finally found the right place to sink his roots - deep into the island's volcanic soil.

Let's backtrack a bit first. Peter visited Singapore many years ago in the early 1980s as a member of the Union des Grands Crus on a French Ministry of Trade-sponsored trip, touring East Asia. That was the beginning of a long friendship.

Peter started as a war correspondent reporting from Vietnam, the Middle East and South Africa. And it was in South Africa that he jumped ship and started to learn about wine and wine-making.

Leaving South Africa, he moved, naturally enough, to Bordeaux, to the Graves region where he worked as wine-maker for Chateau Rahoul. But he had always wanted to be his own boss - Rahoul was only a port of call - so while still winemaker for Rahoul, he took over Chateau de Landiras, also in Graves. And that was where I caught up wi…