WineriesSpecial Report Wineries FEATURE Chinese taste for WA wines leads Asian sales push

Key takeaways HE Chinese have taken – trading in a market that has a liking to a good Aussie more tension around supply and • WA bottled Tdrop. demand.” Australia’s wine exports to Mr Jorgensen said the fed- exports to China China (including Hong Kong eral government’s $50 million up 35 per cent and Macau) set a record this Export and Regional Wine Sup- (by value) last year with bottled wine exports port Package had also increased year increasing by 51 per cent in the confidence in the sector. 12 months to March 2018 reach- Across Australia, 21 interna- • Reduction in ing just over $1 billion – a first tional wine tourism projects tariffs through for exports to a were granted funds earlier this single country. month, including proposals from China-Australia The data released by peak the Swan Valley and Margaret FTA fuelling industry body Wine Australia River wine regions, receiving wine export last month also showed Austral- $250,000 each. growth ia’s overall wine exports reached The Margaret River Wine Asso- their highest value in a decade, ciation is planning to use the grant • Federal $50 increasing by 16 per cent to $2.65 to fund a week-long program of million Export billion. events in Singapore, as well as the For , bot- development of marketing assets and Regional tled exports to China by value and a digital campaign to help Wine Support increased by 35 per cent in the grow visitation from Singapore Package a boost year to December 2017, from and South-East Asia. for industry about $13 million to $17 million. Mr Jorgensen said the Swan Mainland China is the biggest Valley region was also focusing • Emerging export market for the state by on Singapore as part of its com- demand from both value and volume, followed petitive grant strategy, with the China for by the UK, and the US. Singa- other seven WA wine regions pore and Hong Kong come next, to benefit from a broader state organic wines with bottled exports by value grant, which is currently being growing by 5 and 4 per cent negotiated by Wines of WA. respectively in the 12 months to “The biggest opportunity is December 2017. collaboration,” he said. The reduction in wine tariffs “What do you think has more set out in the China-Australia value, generic New Zealand sau- Free Trade Agreement is one vignon blanc or Marlborough driver for the substantial ? growth in exports to China, “Promoting the fine wine with the tariff set to be removed regions in WA, that’s where the completely in January 2019; this branding juice is. is expected to provide a compet- “That’s another attraction itive advantage over other key for visitors when considering Katie McDonald POTENTIAL: Vanya Cullen plans to exhibit her Wilyabrup-based organic wines at Asia’s premier wine and spirits trade fair at the end of this month. Photo: Tim Campbell [email protected] producers such as France, Italy coming here; we have nine dif- and Spain. ferent distinct regions.” Chief executive on industry the east coast and the growth in to hit $540,000 this financial Local wineries peak body Wines of Western Opportunity sales of premium wines. year. Australia, Larry Jorgensen, Fogarty Wine Group, ranked The group’s acquisition of the Dr Hall has sought out Asian are embracing said there was more optimism in the BNiQ Search Enginee as Evans & Tate brand last year was markets since he purchased among the state’s wineries the state’s largest winery by one way to bolster this appe- the winery in 2002, pointing to China’s growing than 12 months ago, given the volume of wine produced (see tite, with Mr Fogarty pointing advantages such as: its burgeon- improved export performance, page 20), is one of many local pro- to the brand’s track record of ing middle class with a desire for taste for WA specifically to China. ducers hoping to accelerate wine award-winning premium wines. affluence; a population far larger “There’s no question that sales in China. The premium drawcard than the competitive domestic wine with plans China is a growth market,” Mr Chairman Peter Fogarty said has been top of mind for Den- market; its location in the same Jorgensen told Business News. the group had been gradually mark-based winery Rockcliffe, time zone as WA; and the ability to develop “The impact of China on the building its presence in Asia and which has created a new label, to fly directly from Perth. domestic market is also some- planned to increase its efforts in Peaceful Bay, specifically tai- “We got into China via agents,” more export thing to consider; the more wine China over the next 12 months. lored to China’s tastes. Dr Hall said. that goes offshore, the less there is He said China had already Owner Steve Hall said the “Patience has been key; time opportunities available for the domestic market. absorbed a significant amount winery had already shipped its invested in forging workable “That’s where the benefit of Australian wines, evident in first container to China in 2018, relationships is now beginning across Asia. for smaller producers comes the increasing grape prices on with total sales to China on track to bear fruit. FEATURE

Chinese taste for WA wines leads Asian sales push

POTENTIAL: Vanya Cullen plans to exhibit her Wilyabrup-based organic wines at Asia’s premier wine and spirits trade fair at the end of this month. Photo: Tim Campbell

Wine shows have also been She said instead of showcasing increasing by 170 per cent during currently, just boutique levels.” key to Wilyabrup-based Cullen in the Australian section of Vin- the smae time frame. The UK market has tradi- China Wines, which managing director expo, the winery had chosen the Ms Cullen said the winery tionally been the largest export seems to be Vanya Cullen said was planning organics section. was well placed to cater to Chi- market for McHenry Hohnen, to exhibit at the 20th anniver- Cullen Wines has embraced na’s organic appetite, with its however, Mr McHenry said the on the move sary of Vinexpo Hong Kong, organic and - Vanya bio- winery would soon match that Asia’s premier wine and spir- making principles since the late dynamic label retailing for $500 in sales to China. for everyone its trade fair, at the end of this 1990s, but Ms Cullen said con- per bottle. “For the best part of eight month. sumer interest had only started South West winery McHenry years we’ve taken a hit on the - Vanya Cullen This year, Australia is the to grow in recent years. Hohnen Vintners co-founder exchange rate, but UK sales have country of honour, featuring 140 According to Wine Australia, Murray McHenry also plans to got some margin now,” he said. “When I began attending wine brands from more than 35 the country’s showcase wines at the Vinexpo “Our other key market today wine shows in China, I was regions across the nation. exports were valued at $14.5 mil- in Hong Kong. is China, particularly for our red taken aback by the enormity of “China seems to be on the lion in the year to March 2018, “If we don’t visit, we’re not wines. demand. In particular, if Chinese move for everyone,” Ms Cullen with Sweden and the UK the larg- going to build our export trades,” “The UK will grow at 3-5 per consumers liked a wine, they said. est destination markets. Mr McHenry said. cent a year and China will grow were game enough to order it by “We’ve spent a lot of time get- Sales to China were next, with “We’re also looking at Taiwan at 10 -15 per cent a year.” the pallet, not the case.” ting the right person there.” Australia’s organic wine exports and Japan, they’re not big Read more online FEATURE WINERIES

Sandalford selling wine experiences

VARIETY: Grant Brinklow says expanding the business’ offerings has underpinned its success, backed by numerous industry awards. Photo: Attila Csaszar Sandalford Wines has established itself as one of Australia’s most popular wineries, with dining and events key to its appeal in the wine tourism market.

Katie McDonald The Prendiville Group has since with getting through to the [email protected] invested substantially in its facili- consumer. Our expectation is that this ties and the brand. “With a sea of competition, how GRAPES have been harvested over Developing different wine do you build a relationship with interest in wine experiences will successive vintages at Sandalford experiences in tandem with that customers? Wines in the Swan Valley for more investment has been an integral “We’re able to have one-on- continue to gain more momentum than 175 years. part of the strategy, according to one experiences with guests at The business has its roots chief executive Grant Brinklow, the estates; it’s a very important - Grant Brinklow in 1840, when Queen Victoria and a tactic that has come to means of building the brand and bequeathed John Septimus Roe, fruition of late, with the winery repeat patronage.” aided by the business’s partner- From a product export perspec- Western Australia’s first surveyor winning gold at the Australian Mr Brinklow said Sandalford’s ship with Captain Cook Cruises, tive, he said Asia had emerged as a general, 4,000 acres of land at Tourism Awards earlier this year Swan Valley restaurant had won which operates charter cruise day promising opportunity for many Caversham, with extensive Swan for the wineries, distilleries and more than 15 Gold Plate awards trips along the Swan River. WA wineries. River frontage. breweries category, after being a since its inception in 1998, and the “It all sits under the umbrella “We’ve worked hard to be China Among the agricultural oper- state finalist 10 times and a run- estate had also received a number of wine – enjoying wine with the ready,” Mr Brinklow said. ations undertaken at Sandalford ner-up twice. of wedding venue awards, accom- right food, company or cultural “It’s outstripped the annual estate during those early years “The Prendiville family had a modating about 300 weddings per experience, whether that’s music demand from the UK and US, tra- it was the vineyards, producing vision for the business; to produce year, with the business now in the or art,” he said. ditionally the two main export table grapes and wine, which world-class wines and provide process of building another func- “On the back of (the) Prendi- markets for Australian wine. proved most fruitful. unique wine tourism experiences tion room. villes’ vision, I think we’ve been “And what happens once Sandalford exported its first for the increasing number of Wine education classes and out- nimble enough to take advantage people start drinking wine? This shipment of grapes in 1915, and people locally and overseas who door concerts have also been part of the right opportunities as they is where the wine tourism piece had established its second viticul- want to visit wine regions, experi- of Sandalford’s diversification mix, come along. comes into play; they want to tural venture across 300 hectares ment and learn,” Mr Brinklow told hosting the likes of Michael Buble, “And we’re very fortunate visit that region and have a wine in Wilyabrup by 1970, making the Business News. Sting, Lionel Richie, Leonard because of the Swan Valley’s prox- experience. Roe family one of the pioneers of “Fast forward to today and Cohen and Alicia Keys across both imity (to the CBD).” “Our expectation is that this the Margaret River region. we’ve got the estate in the Swan of its estates, holding its largest Mr Brinklow said not all tour- interest in wine experiences In 1991, Sandalford was pur- Valley, which is probably one of concert in 2015 when Neil Dia- ists had the time to visit Margaret will continue to gain more chased by WA family business the most visited wineries in WA, mond performed to 16,000 people River, but Sandalford had been momentum. Prendiville Group, which owns if not Australia. at its Swan Valley amphitheatre. able to leverage the fruit of that “So I think the next chapter of and operates multiple hospitality “Quality is everything but it’s Mr Brinklow said as many as region through its second property Sandalford’s history will be just as businesses, including the Cottesloe not necessarily the only thing 200,000 people visited Sandalford’s and pair it with the accessibility of exciting. I’d be surprised if we’re Beach Hotel and Hotel Rottnest. that’s ultimately going to help Swan Valley property each year, its Swan Valley estate. not here for another 178 years.” WINERIES FEATURE

Collaboration’s best to come

COLLECTION: Pascal Marchand (left) and Jeff Burch bring years of experience to their produce. Photo: Burch Family Wines A shared love of wine and the merger of old-world know-how with new-world techniques are behind the growth of Marchand and Burch.

Fergal Gleeson Mr Marchand said he became philosophy, and selecting the [email protected] part of a new breed of winemak- right site is crucial. Micro changes lead to ers in Burgundy at the time. Mr Marchand surveyed loca- MARCHAND and Burch recently “There was a changing of the tions across WA and settled on big results; winemaking has celebrated the 10th anniversary guard. Guys were taking over two sites in the Porongurups. of its first wines. from their fathers. They had “Pascal selected a rocky site got to be a constant evolution The Great Southern label studied abroad. They spoke Eng- with poor top soils, low yields, grew from a shared passion lish. Things were moving on from where water is challenging at - Jeff Burch for the wines of Burgundy held the peasant style to a more open- a height of 200-380 meters. We by Pascal Marchand and Jeff minded one,” he said. were told ‘only a crazy person the Great Southern region, and a “When the sun is shining you’ve and Amy Burch, proprietors of Mr Marchand spent 15 years would give it a go’. They sus- French collection from Burgundy got to put some away. Because it Western Australia’s largest fam- at Bungundy winery Domaine pected it was a perfect site to (from regional level right up to doesn’t always shine,” he said. ily-owned winery. Comte Armand and then moved make great so they grand cru). “We haven’t made our best Messrs Burch and Marchand on to the larger Domaine de la did,” Mr Burch said. During their many com- wine yet. met by chance in 1990, in France, Vougeraie, before setting up his Mr Marchand also brought bined years in the business, “Micro changes lead to big with the first seeds for their col- own business. ideas to the winery that were the partners have learned results; winemaking has got to laboration planted not long after Mr Burch met Mr Marchand anathema to Australian win- that winemaking is about con- be a constant evolution”. that time. during his first trip to Burgundy, emaking at the time, such as stant learning and adapting to The men are tweaking the Burch Family Wines produces in 1990, while doing a tasting at biodynamics, whole-bunch press- changing economic and natural range to make it more accessible the Howard Park (established the Domaine Armand cellar. ing, the use of solids and natural environments. and affordable by including low- 1986) and Madfish (1992) labels, A friendship quickly developed fermentation. The objective was “Nature can give you a lot of er-priced wines to the Australian and operate vineyards across the and Mr Marchand helped Mr to make more “upright and fresh problems. Frost wiped out 80 per collection. Margaret River and Great South- Burch buy a house in Burgundy. wine” as Mr Marchand terms it, cent of production in 2016 in Bur- The partners see March- ern regions. They talked about business ideas rather than the buttery chardon- gundy,” Mr Marchand said. and and Burch as a long-term Originally from Montreal, for years, but it only became nays of old. “But you had to go out in the relationship between the two Canada, Mr Marchand’s first possible contractually when They’ve also gone through the vineyard, working it even though families that will benefit their passions were poetry and lit- Mr Marchand finished up at painstaking and expensive pro- there was nothing left. You had to sons and daughters. erature, which he studied at Domaine de la Vougeraie. cess of getting new Burgundian believe that nature would be gen- Ten years is no time at all in university. Travel, too, was a The Marchand-Burch mission vine clones through quarantine to erous again. So she was in 2017.” the winemaking business, where priority, and it was after time was to bring together the best of raise the quality of WA . From a financial point of view, reputations and brands are built in Greece, Italy and France that old- and new-world winemaking. Marchand and Burch offers an Mr Burch said his experiences over hundreds of years. he worked on a vintage in Bur- Terroir, or a sense of place, is Australian collection comprising had taught him to be prepared Messrs Marchand and Burch gundy, in 1983. critical to French winemaking chardonnay and pinot noir from for fluctuations and upheaval. are in it for the long haul. FEATURE WINERIES

SEARCHENGINE WINERIES ...your key to WA business GET THE FULL LIST ONLINE businessnews.com.au/List/wineries

a) No. of % wine WA sold Change vineyards Volume of Wine a) WA from Year b) Total Produced (litres) b) inter- previous Senior executive and est. in Primary wine regions vineyard a) 2017 state Name of

Rank year Name title WA in WA hectares b) 2018 c) overseas Brands Chief Winemaker

Fogarty Wine Margaret River, Perth a) 45 Millbrook Winery, Barking Owl, Deep Woods 1 — Mr Peter Fogarty 2000 Hills, Pemberton, NFP NFP b) 40 Estate, Smithbrook Winery and Margaret River Julian Langworthy Group Proprietor Geographe c) 15 Vintners

Greater Perth, Great a) 65 Houghton, Goundrey, Amberley, Brookland 2 — Mr Ross Pamment 2011 Southern, Margaret NFP NFP b) 34 Ross Pamment Winemaker River, Pemberton, c) 1 Valley, Moondah Brook, Busselton Boys Geographe

Burch Family a) 40 Howard Park, MadFish, Marchand & Burch, Franck 3 — Mr Jeff Burch 1986 Margaret River, Great a) 4 NFP b) 30 Janice McDonald Wines Owner Southern b) 401 c) 30 Bonville

Mr Ben Miller Treasury Wine 4 — Devil’s Lair Winery 2011 Margaret River a) 2 NFP Devil’s Lair, Fifth Leg, Valley of the Giants. Ben Miller Estates Manager & Chief b) 129 Winemaker Margaret River, Calneggia Family a) 15 Rosabrook, Bunkers, Bramble Lane, Calneggia, 5  Mr Mike Calneggia 2003 Pemberton, Frankland a) 3 a) 1,500,000 b) 70 Brian Fletcher, Alexandra Bridge, Main Break, Brian Fletcher Vineyards Owner River, Mount Barker, b) 52 b) 1,600,000 c) 15 Wolfsburg and 101 Geographe Mr Paul Holmes a a) 20 Tom Cullity, Heytesbury, , Filius, 6  Vasse Felix Court 1967 Margaret River a) 4 a) 1,350,000 b) 65 Virginia Willcock Chief Executive b) 260 b) 1,350,000 c) 15 Classics Officer

Ferngrove a) 20 Marco Pinares/Marelize 7  Andrew Blythe 1997 Frankland River, a) 5 a) 1,500,000 b) 20 Ferngrove, Leaping Lizard and Killerby Vineyards Managing Director Margaret River b) 350 b) 1,286,691 c) 60 Russouw

Cape Mentelle a) 15 8  Mr Cameron Murphy 1970 Margaret River a) 3 NFP b) 40 Cape Mentelle Frederique Perrin Vineyards Estate Director b) 135 c) 45

a) 61 Alkoomi Icon Range, Alkoomi Black Label, 9  Alkoomi Wines Ms Sandra Hallett 1971 Frankland River a) 1 a) 1,200,000 b) 17 Andrew Cherry Proprietor b) 165 b) 1,000,000 c) 22 Alkoomi White Label

a) 50 Latitude 34 Wine Mr Robert Olde Margaret River, a) 3 St Johns Brook Margaret River, Optimus, The 10  Chief Executive 1997 NFP b) 25 Blackwood Andrew Dawson Co Officer Blackwood Valley b) 126 c) 25

Mr Grant Brinklow Sandalford Prendiville Reserve, Sandalford Estate 11 — Sandalford Wines Chief Executive 1840 Margaret River, Swan a) 2 NFP Reserve, Sandalford Margaret River Collection, Hope Metcalf Officer Valley b) 450 Element of Sandalford, Sandalera

Watershed Mr Geoff Barrett a) 2 a) 720,000 Watershed Awakening, Watershed Senses, 12  Founder & Managing 2002 Margaret River Watershed Shades, The Point, The Farm Severine Logan Premium Wines Director b) 140 b) 824,250

a) 45 West Cape Howe Mr Gavin Berry a) 2 a) 600,000 Cape to Cape Range, Regional Range, Single 13  Managing Director & 1997 Great Southern b) 40 Vineyard Series Gavin Berry Wines Senior Winemaker b) 312 b) 750,000 c) 15

a) 25 Ms Simone Horgan- a) 1 a) 576,000 - Art Series, Prelude Vineyards, 14  Leeuwin Estate Furlong 1974 b) 40 Siblings Tim Lovett Joint Chief Executive b) 150 b) 576,000 c) 35

a) 40 Next of Kin, Exmoor, DJL, Xanadu, Stevens Road, 15  Xanadu Wines Mr Glenn Goodall 1977 Margaret River a) 2 a) 600,000 b) 40 Glenn Goodall Chief Winemaker b) 85 b) 550,000 c) 20 Reserve

16 RANKED BY VOLUME OF WINE PRODUCED 2018 96

All information compiled using surveys, publicly available data and contact with industry sources. Other companies may be eligible for inclusion. If you believe your company is eligible, please email [email protected]. WND: Would Not Disclose, NFP: Not For Publication, N/A: Not Applicable or Not Available. The above list (and more than 80 other lists) inclusive of address, phone and email information are available online to all business subscribers at www.businessnews.com.au. If you are not a fully paid up subscriber of Business News and want access to over 6,700 businesses and 24,000 executives, please contact us on 9288 2100 or email [email protected]. WineriesSpecial Report

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