Fran Austin moved to Tasmania from her home state of Western Australia in 2001 as Winemaker/Manager at the Bay of Fires Winery. Her passion for Champagne and cool climate wines stretches back to her days studying winemaking at Adelaide University.  Despite many years of winemaking experience across iconic regions such as Burgundy, Oregon, Yarra Valley and the Adelaide Hills, Fran chose to settle in Tasmania due to the unparalleled fruit quality within this special region.

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Over the last two decades Fran's wines have collected a swag of wine show awards. In 2005 she was awarded Gourmet Traveller Young Winemaker of the year and she was selected as a scholar of the illustrious Len Evans Tutorial in 2009.  Joining her husband, Shane Holloway, in their Delamere Vineyard business in 2011 fulfilled a long-held dream to create exceptional, single-site, cool climate wines.

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In 2016 Fran was the recipient of the Alcorso Foundation’s Don Martin Fellowship, which funded a three-week study tour of Champagne to research the factors underpinning sustainability of their Grower/Producer sector. The project encompassed in-depth interviews with many renowned family producers, including Pierre Gimonnet and De Sousa, as well as the prestigious houses of Louis Roederer and Verve Cliquot.

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Fran brings with her extensive experience, having judged at numerous regional and national shows over two decades, as panel judge and panel chair.