Named Redbank, that house was also the source of the name he gave to the vineyard property he and Deborah moved to permanently in 2007, three years after they first met. For Deborah it was something of a homecoming. She lived in Wairarapa in the 1970s and 80s when her children were young, and with her then partner, Alister Taylor, planted the first commercial grapevines in the Martinborough area, an experience she writes about in her 2015 book
The Good Life on Te Muna Road. Since moving back to Martinborough with Colin she has immersed herself in the community, and in 2019 opened The Martinborough Bookshop, rounding out a life that has revolved around words. “It seemed a natural progression given I’ve been in writing and publishing all my life,” says the award-winning journalist and newspaper columnist, former Act MP and author.