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Australia's First Families of Wine set sail
12 of Australia's greatest family winemakers have joined forces to launch a global wine initiative - Australia's First Families of Wine (AFFW).
Launched at the Sydney Opera House on 31 August by the Hon Tony Burke MP, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the AFFW's mission is to take the heart and soul of Australian wine to the world and promote Australian landmark wines.
The 12 family wineries are: Brown Brothers, Campbells, d'Arenberg, De Bortoli, Howard Park, Henschke, Jim Barry, McWilliam's, Tahbilk, Taylors, Tyrrell's and Yalumba. The collective 12 represent Australian regions across four states, together they own more than 5,500 hectares of Australia's finest vineyards and have over 1200 years of winemaking experience under their belts.
As the nation's most famous names in wine, the AFFW will work to engage consumers, retailers, restaurateurs and industry members across the globe about the real character and characters of Australian wine.
With volume and value of Australian wine exports on the decline, and Australian wine under fire from international critics for being out of fashion and known only for cheap, bulk wine, the timing is perfect for the AFFW to help the Australian wine industry get on the front.
The inaugural Chairman of the AFFW is Alister Purbrick of Victorian winery Tahbilk, himself a fourth generation winemaker and custodian of one of the Victorian wine industry's most precious jewels -- the 150-year-old Tahbilk winery on the banks of the Goulburn River.
'While as family winemakers we all value our independence, we do share a common vision -- that Australian wine can take on the world's best and win,' Purbrick said. 'There have been some recent stories on the subject of Australian wine quality that we all believe, to put it bluntly, are complete rubbish.'
'If there is a collective of families anywhere in the world combining such character, such heritage, such personality and such great wine as this one we have yet to see it and we doubt we will.'
Purbrick and his colleagues have been working behind the scenes on the creation of the AFFW for more than three years -- the meeting where the idea of the group was first mooted was held in July 2006 before Wine Australia in Sydney.
Paul Henry, General Manager Market Development of Wine Australia believes the initiative is positive for the wineries involved and for Australian wine in general.
'The future must belong to those companies that can tell a compelling and authentic story which can only be described as uniquely Australian. The AFFW initiative exemplifies this philosophy and can play a role in the next chapter of our international and domestic success,' Henry said.
The AFFW will pursue their individual business goals with the shared purpose of being a part of a strong collective. The group will gather together on occasions throughout the world to show the spirit of Australian winemaking is alive and well, indeed thriving as never before.
Each winery represents a special place in the Australian wine echelon and makes a range of wines of character and personality -- whether they be great value varietals or single vineyard icons. Equally each family understands its responsibility to defend and promote Australia's pre-eminent place in the world of wine and their own custodianship of some of Australian wine's 'sacred sites'.
James Halliday, Australia's leading wine authority said of the new group: 'The challenges for Australia are clear enough. What Australia's First Families of Wine can and will do is turn words into actions, ambitions into concrete results.'
The new AFFW logo will adorn selected bottles of each winery's best known wines and the group plans to launch into the European market in May 2010.
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