Leila Davis’s formal education is in microbiology – a useful skillset to have in a winery, especially as fermentations are proceeding. She first cut her teeth in the trade by working vintages at Beechworth’s Domenica in 2018 and ’19, before joining Pipers Brook in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley for vintage 2021. Now properly bitten by the wine bug, she going the team at Domenica in 2022, taking time off to rack up vintages with French producers Domaine Mee Godard (Beaujolais) and Domaine Courbet (Jura). Currently working winemaking day jobs between Beechworth icon Sorrenberg and upcomers Sentiō, she joined forces with her sister Crystal and friend Juliette Menneteau to create the Foreign Friends label in 2023.
“What started out as a side passion project quickly snowballed into the business that Foreign Friends has become today,” Leila says. “I had started making a small amount of wine on the side of my job in 2022, but the momentum didn’t really build until I found two other people crazy enough to dive head first into it with me. We’ve kept each other going through the scant funds and the competition amongst all the other new business learning curves. It’s been a very busy few years!”
While Leila’s wine is at the core of Foreign Friends as a business, the label also operates as something of an ode to powerhouse women in history – and, by extension, acts as a form of feminist praxis in the Australian wine industry, which is still regrettably male-dominated. The label’s cuvée names – ‘Virginia’, ‘Ada’, ‘Jeanne’, etc. – may strike casual consumers as whimsical characterisations of the wines, but each is actually named after a historical female trailblazer such as Virginia Woolf, Ada Lovelace, or Jeanne Baret. Each cuvée’s respective trailblazer is depicted on the postage stamp–inspired label art designed by Leila’s sister Crystal in collaboration with Tyler Russell. (Foreign Friends’ striking packaging took out Best of Show at the 2024 Brisbane Advertising and Design Club Awards.)
“The momentum didn’t really build until I found two other people crazy enough to dive head first into it with me. We’ve kept each other going.”
The wines inside the bottles are as considered as their presentation. “The intent behind Foreign Friends was to bring all different kinds of people together,” Leila says. “When we began the label, I wanted to create wines that were accessible to and enjoyed by a range of different people, inviting them into what we are creating.” As such, Leila focuses on freshness and fruit purity in the wines to make them appealing to a broad range of drinkers. “The Foreign Friends wines are made with a focus on variety, site and vintage,” she says. “Purity is at the forefront of my winemaking style.” The overall mission is enjoyment: “I love creating a product from start to finish that can bring joy to others and bring people together. I’m trying to make the wines in a way that is authentic to the variety, vintage and place.”
While the label commenced with fruit purchased from growers across Victoria – mostly Beechworth, but some King Valley and Yarra Valley fruit, too – the longer-term goal is to focus production on Beechworth fruit from vineyards that Leila helps manage. “Over the last two growing seasons, I’ve been involved in the vineyard management of Blacksprings vineyard where our (yet to be released) ‘24 and ‘25 Foreign Friends Chardonnay is from,” she says. “I feel a greater connection to and understanding of the fruit and the wine when I’ve been working with the vineyard throughout the growing season. When we took over the vineyard, we changed the pruning method, canopy management and yield control. It has been super rewarding to see these changes reflected in the quality of wines produced from this site.”
Leila’s vineyard management practices are being shaped by a warming climate. “Sometimes Beechworth can get a little warm during summer so natural acidity can be a challenge we have to watch closely,” she says. “Management in the vineyard, picking decisions and management in the winery are all ways we have adapted to this. On the flip side, the fruit intensity and inherent structure in this region is a real positive for the winemaking philosophy that we’re aiming for.” She adds, “We’re focussing on canopy management and irrigation timing to promote better vigour and shading of the fruiting zone. We’ve had a big emphasis on picking dates, trying to preserve as much natural acidity as possible.”
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