An Hour With Kate Goodman

The world is a magical place, if you make the time to appreciate it.

Some of life’s greatest wonders are hidden beyond our line of sight.

Like the unseen communication network created by mycelium and mushrooms.

You can learn a lot from the humble mushie.

The mycelial network is a bit like an underground web of microscopic roads that connect trees and other living organisms and has done so for more than three-and-a-half billion years.

It is quite mind blowing.

These are some of the things winemaker Kate Goodman ponders as she sits on her balcony overlooking McLaren Vale’s Maslin Beach.

Kate enjoys musing over the things we can’t necessarily see.

She does so with a ceramic cup of coffee (boosted with a mushroom supplement mix) in hand.

Kate studied biomedical science (majoring in microbiology) before winemaking stole her heart.

Part of the course covered mycology, hence the thing for fungus.

“Mushrooms are a new frontier. We have not even scratched the surface beyond white button mushrooms in the supermarket.”

Kate also marvels at the power of trees.

“There’s a lot of amazing energy in trees. I often look at them and wonder if they’re masculine or feminine. It’s just amazing what goes on beneath the ground and how they communicate.”

For all the fascination with fungus, it was grapes that carved a permanent mark on her heart and the career that followed.