One of our favourite publications WBM (Wine Business Magazine) recently asked winemakers from all over Australia; “What’s the one thing you’ve done over the past 12 months that has made a big difference to your wine business?”
Terre à Terre and DAOSA winemaker and owner Xavier Bizot chose to discuss collaborating with our wonderful friends and neighbours here in the Adelaide Hills. In Xavier’s words; “It is quite obvious, looking at the success stories in Australia, that the regions that work together and focus on what they do best, are the ones that will win in the long term.”
Full excerpt below:
“One thing our team at Terre a Terre and DAOSA is particularly proud of this year is instigating two collaborative events with other producers from our region (Adelaide Hills) and our sub-region (Piccadilly Valley), promoting our regionality and the excellence of our products. The first event – the Piccadilly Pick-a-Dozen – was a small farm gate sale which drew crowds on a very cold and wet December Sunday to our winery to buy whole cases of wine from five neighbouring Piccadilly Valley wineries. Our neighbours the Wottons sold cherries, the Uraidla Primary Parent Teacher Association held a sausage sizzle, and despite the weather the crowd loved the atmosphere, and bought wine. We’ll definitely be making it an annual event, and hope this shows that everyone stands to gain from collaborating with their neighbours. There is lots of potential for the Piccadilly Valley being so close to Adelaide CBD, and the wines we make here (Chardonnay and sparkling) are absolute world class. The second event was focused on traditional method (or Method Classic) sparkling wines from the Adelaide Hills, a masterclass targeted at media and trade, demonstrating the potential for the Adelaide Hills to make excellent sparkling wines. The producers were invited to present their wines, with particularly good feedback from journalists and trade this year; 2019 was our fourth year organising this event and we are now thinking of widening the scope of the event and taking it national next year, talking to some of the top Tasmanian producers about collaborating. It is quite obvious, looking at the success stories in Australia, that the regions that work together and focus on what they do best, are the ones that will win in the long term. It is also obvious that, for the three styles that constitute the foundation of Australian fine wine (Cabernet Shiraz blends, Chardonnay and sparkling wines), multi-regional promotion to show diversity in excellence is the way forward.”
Words: Xavier Bizot
Published in WBM, January 2020
