Meet Alistair Blackwell and Karlee McGee – Stonefruit

When the Granite Belt beckoned this food-loving duo, they made it their mission to bring Tenterfield’s first-ever wine bar to Rouse Street, complete with a paddock-to-plate offering that supports local growers all year round. 

 

Karlee

My love of food started with my grandmother – she was a very practical woman and came from a time when you’d use everything and nothing was wasted. She grew her own garden and preserved her own foods, which would later be used during the Canadian winter when access to fruit and vegetables was scarce. Seeing her connection to and respect for food has always inspired me – unpretentious, minimal and delicious. 

I grew up in Canada, so my childhood was spent nowhere near the ocean. Having the opportunity to live in a place like Sydney was very alluring – so I moved there in 2011 on a Working Holiday visa and never left.

My love of food and wine evolved to the next level when I met Alistair six years ago. When we first met, we would stay up late drinking wine and dreaming big. Our conversations were always around our favourite places to dine near and far, which always led into ideas of running our own place… but always a conversation. Then in 2022, we realised our dreams were too important to ignore. It’s been a huge learning  experience, particularly for me stepping into a professional kitchen for the first time. Coming from a background in commercial real estate, you can see how this would be a  stark contrast. So, while I have a lot of experience in the corporate world, my only experience with creating food before Stonefruit was in my home kitchen. 

There was no turning back once I quit my 9-5. I was in the headspace – ‘I’m going  to do this… and it has to work out because it just has to’. When we drove into Tenterfield for the first time since taking on the venue, with our old life behind us, it was surreal. We had to develop the menu, source produce and test recipes. Our objective from day one was to immerse ourselves in the community – a daunting task when you’re new to the region. After meeting with local growers, producers and winemakers, the menu evolved naturally. We’ve since made some great friends who we work closely with every day.  

Of course, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, but I’ve always loved cooking and it was just one of those things – I knew I needed to throw myself into the deep end and just do it. It’s not for the faint-hearted. But I learnt pretty quickly what was right, what was wrong and I live for the rigour of it all. We have our own little life and our own little business and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We discovered Tenterfield thanks to a family member who had visited. After exploring for a weekend, we saw huge potential with the cool climate, natural landscape and emerging wine region. 

As soon as we saw the venue, we looked at each other and made the biggest decision of our lives in under five minutes. It was a giant leap but it felt right. And it felt easy too, because for us it came down to deciding on a place we loved at face value and just going for it. Tenterfield has been everything we’d hoped for and more – an authentic country experience with a functioning high street and world-class producers at your doorstep. You’d never see a franchise restaurant here, which we love – that and the fact you can see people riding horses down the street. We also welcomed our first child, Valentine, to the world here, too. It’s been so heartwarming to see the way the community came together to welcome him – like one big extended family.  

Alistair

My mum worked as a cook in kitchens when she was younger and was great at it – so I grew up in the kitchen with her, baking on Sunday afternoon and helping with dinner. We had a lot of fun. After leaving home, I was always excited to cook my own meals, and that’s something that has stuck with me. These days, when my family’s all together, we all cook communally, swap ideas and recipes and enjoy long lunches that turn into dinners – it’s an obsession, a healthy obsession. 

I grew up in Sydney, but also spent some time in Gloucester, a regional small town in Northern NSW. I think that experience gave me the confidence to say goodbye to the city with ease – it’s something I know. Tenterfield has a vibrancy to it with tourists visiting week in, week out. You’re right in the middle of the Granite Belt and New England with access to an enormous amount of wineries close by. A lot of our clientele have spent the day tasting and exploring these regions and find themselves at our bar for the evening. They’ll have a drink and we chat about the day’s events, they’re always so impressed with what’s on offer. 

We noticed a gap in the market and, after doing some incognito research on the street, we had confirmation that they would love a wine bar in Tenterfield. We didn’t give any major details away, but those conversations showed us that something like Stonefruit (in theory) could work. So when the Rouse Street property became available we made an offer, then headed back to Sydney not thinking much of it. We carried on with life as usual. We received a call only a few days later saying our offer had been accepted.  

All of a sudden, our dream is now a reality and we’re moving to Tenterfield and we’re opening a bar. That was the end of 2021. We continued working full-time for eight months, driving the nine-hour trip every weekend to paint the venue floor to ceiling, sand tables and so on. It’s a beautiful historical building, we didn’t want to do much to it. The aesthetic feels timeless, with a non-pretentious vibe. We kept its charm. Many of our guests say it feels like home when dining here.

By May 2022 we were ready to let our employers know about our plans and, for me, it felt like a natural next step. In my younger days, my work was always hospitality-led – aside from a few other gigs in the design world. 

It was there I found myself exploring deep into the history of wine, while working with some of Sydney’s top restaurants and bars. What always resonated with me was the sheer magnitude of knowledge and narrative that wine can carry with it and I’ve carried that knowledge over to Stonefruit today. We curate our list based on wines we drink ourselves. Wines make the dining experience go from good to unforgettable. Our selection of Granite Belt and New England producers has stemmed from relationships we have paved throughout the journey. They are the kind of wines we used to drink in Sydney and we’ve found them on our doorstep. 

That’s been the most enjoyable part of the experience so far, fostering relationships within the community and sourcing suppliers by word of mouth. We weren’t afraid to introduce ourselves and we’ve formed great relationships off the back of that – relationships that have enabled us to create an authentic offering. We are flooded by the generosity of local growers and that forces us to experiment in the kitchen, which can be a challenge but it keeps things interesting. The top half of our menu is led by your small plates, using fresh local produce along with some of the world’s best delicatessen. They change a lot and are always very colourful, bursting with different flavours. In the second half, you’ll find larger plates, and that will always be led by the seasons and a nod to the whole beast.  

My favourite part of going to work is hanging out with our new community. We’ve met a beautiful network of people who call Tenterfield home. From not knowing a single soul to feeling truly a part of the place, being surrounded by people who love and support what we’re doing is such a wonderful feeling. 

Settle in at Stonefruit: Bar. Cafe. Wine.

Stonefruit is not about bravado. Alistair and Karlee have a clear purpose – to eat and drink well, in good company. You can expect a cellar full of hand-selected wines, beers, cocktails and spirits, as well as a bar menu honouring growers from the Granite Belt and New England regions. You’re going to want to settle in for a few hours at this must-visit Tenterfield wine bar. 

204 Rouse Street | Tenterfield NSW 2372 | 0487 480 959 | Website | Instagram | Photography Natalia Bedwell