Fighting talk at Wine Australia: a name change & a renewed spirit of unity and engagement

More news this morning from the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation following Monday’s announcement of its new UK Director, Yvonne May (see here). 

The Corporation has changed its name to Wine Australia which, according to Wine Australia’s e-newsletter, “sets the scene for a new era at the organisation.”  Explaining the name change, it says “Wine Australia more accurately reflected the organisation’s key roles and functions [i.e. wine not brandy], and also provides better alignment with its international offices, which currently operate under that name.”  Good idea!

And moving seamlessly from form to substance, the newsletter refers to a renewed spirit of “unity and engagement demonstrated by the wine community at a planning session in December” and the need for the Australian wine community to “look at ourselves – at what we do, how we do it and who we engage with” and “reclaim its spark.”  

I firmly believe that the spark is there on the ground.  The challenge is to communicate it and for importers and retailers to have the courage to fly with wines which challenge perceptions of Australia, as opposed to simply those that reinforce stereotypes.  This year, I can think of no better example than La Violetta La Ciornia, a delightfully lifted, nuanced, mid-weight Shiraz imported by Aus Wine Online (see here for full tasting note).  I look forward to Australia demonstrating the fire in its belly in the New Year!