August 2007
Margaret River Welcomes Macquarie to Show
A new name, a new Chairman and the return of a new friend with a focus on Chardonnay will ensure the Macquarie 2007 Margaret River Wine Show remains one of the best regional Wine Shows in Australia.
The new name recognises its new major sponsor Macquarie Bank.
The sponsorship is a joint arrangement
between two Macquarie
divisions – Macquarie Private Wealth and Macquarie Investment Lending.
Association President Ron Fraser welcomed Macquarie on board.
“Macquarie and Margaret River are a good partnership as we have a number of similarities. Both were established in the late 1960’s and both started from humble beginnings by people passionate about quality, reputation
and our brand,” Mr Fraser said.
The Western Australian Head of Macquarie Private Wealth, Rob Johnston acknowledged the Margaret
River Wine show was one of the premier wine shows on the West Australian calendar and said Macquarie was proud to be associated with such an outstanding event. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx Macquarie
Private Wealth & Macquarie Investment Leading teams of Stephen Moloney,
Paul xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Berson, Simon Montgomery, Melanie Longmire, Anthony De Nicola, Brian Bates, Marc xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSchwartz toast the new relationship with Margaret River wine.
The Head of Sales and Marketing for Macquarie Investment Lending,
Peter van der Westhuyzen said Macquarie had considerably
grown its business in Western
Australia and it made a lot of sense to give back to the community and support an exceptional event like the Margaret River Wine Show.
In other new developments, all trophies have been given equal significance to reinforce the importance
and achievement of each award.
Due to their popularity, the two Non-Commercial classes will remain, giving grape growers, amateur
winemakers and winemaking students an opportunity for feedback on their wines.
The entry form will also ask for sub region information. Over time, this will allow us to track any trends relating to award and medal winning wines. The sub region information will apply to the location of the vineyard and is based on the work of Dr John Gladstones. This information will be used for MRWIA purposes only.
The Macquarie 2007 Margaret River Wine Show Exhibitor Schedule will be released in August. Judging takes place November 28 and 29, with the Awards Dinner on November 29 at Xanadu Wines.
Baker Turns Spotlight on Chardonnay
International Chardonnay styles will be used to contrast and compare Margaret River against other parts of the world in a new Master Class, as part of the Macquarie 2007 Margaret River Wine Show.
UK Distributor and International Judge Bill Baker will return to the Show this year, after ‘challenging’ Margaret River’s style of Chardonnay at the 2006 Show.
The Wine Show Technical Advisory Group wanted to take advantage of Mr Baker’s knowledge of international Chardonnay to take local winemakers through the Master Class to see how the region’s styles stand against wines from Europe.
Up to 16 Chardonnays will be selected for tasting, including the 2007 Margaret River trophy winner.
It is hoped the Master Class will be the first of an annual event centred around the Wine Show, utilising the expertise of a visiting Judge.
Extra Judges has Huon Takes Chair
Award winning wine writer Huon Hooke will lead up an impressive ensemble of Judges for the Macquarie
2007 Margaret River Wine Show.
A Roseworthy wine marketing graduate
with a first qualification in journalism,
Huon is one of Australia’s most respected wine writers with more than 20 years experience, including his wine column for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Following a record 740 entries in 2006, a third judging panel has been introduced to handle the increase
in entries.
In addition to Huon, Yalumba winemaker
Louisa Rose and Chris Pfeiffer of Victorian-based Pfeiffer Wines will head up judging panels.
They will be joined by Domain Chandon CEO Dr Tony Jordan and Philip Rich of The Prince hotel and bottle shop in Melbourne. Bill Baker returns as International Judge for the second year.
The three Western Australian Judges
are Ferngrove winemaker Kim Horton, Houghton winemaker Ross Pamment and retailer and wine writer Alex Hudak.
The Judges will be assisted by Associates
Shannon Koven (Curtin 2006 Sensory Award winner), Simon
Hanley (Curtin University) and Navneet Singh (Moss Brothers).
Wine Show Technical Advisory Chair Virginia Willcock said the committee
was excited by the excellent standard of Judges this year.
“Judges are nominated based on their merit and expertise to ensure the highest calibre of judging,” Virginia
said.
“The fact these highly qualified Judges are keen to be a part of the Margaret River Wine Show proves the Show’s fantastic reputation.”
New Reds On Show in Unified Margaret River Event
Margaret River was the talk of the trade in Perth on Monday, July 30 as around 300 guests sampled the latest release reds from 41 wine producers at Frasers Restaurant.
The aim of the Margaret River Reds Day was to showcase new season reds for wine trade and media. It was also to encourage business networking and wines sales.
By
putting a large number of wineries
under one roof, the unified marketing
of ‘brand Margaret River’ it attracted trade to come along, taste and talk to wineries representatives one on one.
Despite the stormy weather hiding the view of Perth’s skyline, trade were very enthusiastic about the event.
Many impressed with the new
labels emerging from the region,
as well as the consistent quality
from established favourites.
The day was attended by a wide cross section of wine trade from restaurants, hotels, bottle shops, pubs & taverns, liquor stores and distributors.
It was encouraging to see younger people involved in the wine industry attend. Some restaurants and hotels
chose to use the day to further educate their bar staff in wines.
While the day was predominantly focused on Perth trade, sponsors National Liquor News helped get exposure
across Australia resulting
in some Eastern States guests.
National sponsorship will help the event profile if planned moves to take the Reds & Whites Day to the Eastern States comes to fruition.
Representatives of WA Tourism and the Tourism Council of WA also attended to learn more about the region.
Thanks to Yallingup Woodfired Bread, Margaret River Organic Creameries and Latitude 34 Olive Oil for providing local produce to compliment the wines.
49 Down: Puzzle Promoting Margaret River Fine Wines
A new crossword themed around the Margaret River wine region will have puzzle lovers learning more about our wines while filling in the answers.
The Association has worked with the Australian Crossword Association to develop the Margaret River Wine Crossword to promote the wine region
and its wineries to both visitors and potential visitors.
The ACA was responsible for creating
the clues, using the Association’s website as a source of information about members and the region.
The result is a crossword that mixes wine education, regional points of interest and clues on individual businesses.
It is the Association’s understanding that it is the first wine region themed crossword of its kind in Australia, or the world.
The Crossword will be used as a competition. The first correct Crossword drawn out of a barrel will win five cases of Margaret River fine wines.
There will be no charge to complete
the Crossword or send it to the Association, maximising the number of people who can take part.
A final launch date for the Crossword has not yet been set.
If successfully received, an ongoing series of Crosswords has already been negotiated with the ACA, coinciding
with peak tourism periods when people have the opportunity to relax more with the Crossword and a glass Margaret River wine.
Funding Boost for Waste Water Project
A project to develop best practice in wastewater management for small wineries in Margaret River was boosted
by an $87,209 federal grant.
A collaboration between the Association,
Curtin University, Cape to Cape Catchments Group, and GeoCatch, WineWatch aims to develop ways to treat the waste water prior to it disposal
to rid it of potential biological or sediment material and to then dispose
of it safely through leach drains, tree lots, back into the vineyard or into a central treatment facility.
Currently small producers have avoided strict environmental scrutiny because the WA Environmental Protection
Act does not require wineries under 350 kilolitres to be licensed through the Department of Environment
and Conservation.
Chair of the Association’s Technical
& Environment sub-committee, Associate Professor Mark Gibberd said there was no evidence of environmental
impact from wastewater management by smaller wineries in Margaret River but that did not mean there were not potential impacts on the environment.
In addition, it is expected environmental
guidelines will become more stringent in the future.
WineWatch will allow Margaret River to take a lead in developing systems to show all wineries, regardless of size, can demonstrate minimal environmental
impact.
The project will identify wastewater treatment systems suitable for small producers by studying research already
conducted by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation’s work on the same subject
aimed at larger producers. It will include selecting three ‘models’ – current wine producers with systems
in place that can be reviewed and improved to ensure they are the best possible standard.
The project will also look to improve small producers’ knowledge of wastewater
systems to allow them to better manage their own systems.
Innovative Advert
Unified marketing has once again proven a cost effective but powerful tool.
Australia’s WIne Business Magazine is working on a Margaret River feature of The Innovators.
The feature explores the innovations in technology,
viticulture, winemaking techniques,
marketing and tourism within the Margaret River GI.
On
the back cover, 57 wineries will showcase
their brand in an amended version of the 2006 edition Margaret River Labels Poster.
Wineries on the poster were invited to take part at a cost of just $35 to help cover the costs of the advertising space.The Association will continue to explore ways to creating cost effective marketing opportunities.
Message From the President
With a disastrous 2007 vintage in the Eastern states and the exceptionally
high quality of our ‘07 vintage, the Margaret River region is now in the spotlight of the wine industry more than ever.
Owing to our plentiful water supply,
consistent seasons and our high profile name, the future for Margaret River looks very positive.
Over the last five years the wine industry has gone through some of its toughest times (including Margaret River) which has forced some people out of the business and others are just managing to survive.
There are now more companies (local and interstate) looking to secure fruit supply from Margaret River for the 2008 vintage and beyond.
This is a change from the last few years where a lot of these decisions were left until the last minute, which put huge financial stress on growers.
The job ahead of us is to capitalise
on this opportunity and build a strong platform to ensure the long term future and success of our businesses.
Strong and trusting relationships developed between grower and winery are crucial for our success. Working together as partners to produce results, which will enable both parties to build a successful business, will deliver us the outcomes
we need, to capitalise on the current opportunity.
From all reports we are currently in a position to expect good yields for our 2008 vintage (naturally it is far too early to be predicting quality) while there is some concern due to last year’s conditions that the Eastern states may not even achieve ‘07 yields.
- Ron Fraser
