Their Ascella Estate at Milbrodale is certainly the Hunter’s largest organic vineyard.

With 32 hectares under vine, it may well be the country’s largest family-run organic vineyard.

They bought the property in December 2007 and have turned the estate into a sustainable organic farm that produces high quality, award-winning wines.

Not a bad achievement for a couple who have learnt the ins and outs of viticulture mostly on the job.

Geoff came from a engineering and science background and Barb, a native of Canada, worked in health and community economic development.

This included establishing training programs for indigenous communities in the Arctic.

A commitment to organic food and great tasting wine led the couple to purchase the property and take on the hard work involved in proving they could produce great wines using organic methods.

Geoff takes charge of the farm and his favourite ingredient for healthy vines is Epsom salts - used as a micro nutrient.

He is also a big fan of fish oil and kelp extracts. From harvest to bud burst the property’s Dorper sheep are grazed among the vines to reduce grass and weed infestations.

But their love of tasty grapes, no matter their size, means they are banished from the vineyard after bud burst.

“They have a definite taste for fine grapes,” Geoff laughed.

Inter-row mulching and hand pulling of weeds is used along the 115kilometres of vines.

Helping the Browns in this task are members of WWOOF - Willing Workers on Organic Farms.

Since purchasing the farm and using their organic methods the soils at Ascella have gone from a ph of 7.8 to a ph range of 6-6.5 - making them ideal for grape production.

Ascella Estate wines are made by Liz Jackson at Monarch Wines in Pokolbin and the Browns paid special credit to her expertise in producing their award-winning range.

Apart from the challenges of running a large organic vineyard the couple have also been busy joining members of their local Bulga-Milbrodale community in its fight against the expansion of a nearby open cut coal mine.

“The Hunter is the oldest vineyard region in Australia," Barbara said.

"It is rated as one of the top 10 vineyard regions of the world.

"So why destroy such a wonderful industry for such a short term mine?

“If it has to go ahead, why not go underground? No where else in the world would they contemplate expanding a mine like that and destroying our community.

“They will destroy our industry and the health and wellbeing of a community for what? It is so short-sighted.”

The Browns want the broader community to understand what’s at stake should the mining project be given he green light.

“Ten years of mining, but the adverse impacts will carry on for generations,” Geoff said.