Think you know Aussie Wine?

Selector recently had the pleasure of catching up with Sebastian Crowther, Master Sommelier with Sydney’s Rockpool group. Sebastian’s love of wine grew from a realisation that it was a topic that offers so much to explore. As he explains,  " I was just so oblivious to how big and how interesting the world of wine was and I think it was that moment of realisation that wow, there’s so much more to this than what I actually know.” Today, having attained the title of Master Sommelier, his love of wine extends to the origins, people, stories and passion that are poured into every bottle and he loves communicating that message to his restaurant guests and presenting them with beautifully complementary food and wine matches. “Food and wine matching is something that we have a focus on,” he says, “We look at the protein, we also look at the sauces that are accompanying it, whether they’re salty, sweet or have heavy umami characteristics, we try to find wines that complement these and really integrate into the flavours that the dishes have.” Of course, a wine is only as good as the glass that it’s served in and Sebastian believes he’s discovered the best. “I must admit, I’m a self-confessed Riedel glassware freak, not only in the way they enhance the aroma and flavours of the wine, but also this beautiful tactile feel that they give.” About Riedel For 250 years, the Riedel name has stood for the high art of glassmaking.  However it was Claus Riedel’s 1950s discovery that the shape of your glass impacts the aroma, flavour, and overall profile of wine, which revolutionized the industry.  His masterpiece series “Sommeliers was the first ever stemware line to provide wine drinkers with an instrument designed to enhance the enjoyment of wine.  His creation of ‘wine friendly’ stemware led to the production of varietal-specific glassware by his son Georg, 10th generation.  Working with experienced tasters and winemakers, he designed his ground-break Vinum series through sensory workshops, whereby the glass’ bowl shape is determined only by sensory perception, rather than on a drawing board. Maximilian Riedel, 11th generation, now sits at the helm of the company after taking over from his father in 2014.  His introduction of the O Series, varietal-specific wine tumblers, as well as his imaginative series of snake decanters, continue to drive the company forward.  Maximilian further strengthened Riedel’s commitment to the hospitality industry with the introduction of the Riedel Restaurant lines.  The Restaurant series allows on-premise access to the Riedel portfolio and “Grape Varietal Specific” philosophy, at a lower cost and with greater durability. Visit Riedel for more details. Brought to you by

Better fruit expression, a softer structure and the best possible tasting condition – these are the reasons why it’s a good idea to decant certain wines. But how and when should you decant a wine? We asked Tasting Panellist, winemaker and wine show judge, Dave Mavor to fill us in. When to use a wine decanter

I recently had the privilege of watching the legendary Liverpool FC towel up Sydney FC in a soccer friendly in a private suite at ANZ Stadium courtesy of Claymore Wines . The Clare Valley winery is owned by Adelaide doctor Anura Nitchingham, who became a lifelong Liverpool fan while attending university in the northern England city back in the 80s. Since founding his own winery, he’s been able take his fandom to the next level with the Claymore Wines Liverpool FC range , hence the invite to the match. During the half-time break, with the Reds comfortably leading 3-0, I observed a young couple at the bar looking through the range of Claymore Wines on offer. “Can I try the Purple Rain Sauvignon Blanc …I just love Prince,” the young lass asked of the barmaid. “I’ll have the London Calling,” said he, seemingly unaware of the varietal. It’s a Cabernet Malbec blend, by the way, and a good one, having recently won Platinum  at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Besides football, Anura’s other great love is music. So instead of having wines like a ‘single vineyard Shiraz’, Claymore’s labels bear the name of some of Anura’s favourite songs and albums, such as the Dark Side of the Moon Shiraz, Joshua Tree Riesling and Voodoo Child Chardonnay. “I just wanted to have some fun,” Anura tells me when I ask him the reasoning behind the labels. “After all, wine is meant to be fun, right?” Marketing Wine to Millennials While it does seem fun, Claymore’s labels seem to fly in the face of traditional wine marketing, where the producer’s logo is consistent across all their wines and information such as varietal, origin and vintage is first and foremost. “It was a struggle early on because the inconsistent branding was deemed anti-marketing,” admits Claymore’s general manager, Carissa Major. “But once we explained the story, we had a more personal conversation with the customer. Now, people come to our cellar door, pick up a Bittersweet Symphony (Cab Sav) and say, ‘this is from my generation, I get it’. The labels were never meant to be a gimmick, they are the sound track to Anura’s life. But marketing-wise today, they present exciting opportunities rather than barriers.” Recent studies from California State University help explain the marketing swing. Researchers looked at the fastest growing buyer market in wine – millennials – people born after 1980, so termed because they hit maturity at the turn of the millennium. This generation is cashed up, brand savvy and, most importantly, they are on the verge of overtaking baby boomers as the biggest buyers of wine. The university study found that millennials prefer wine labels that are brightly coloured, less traditional, more graphically focused and feature creative brand names. If you’re a wine producer listening to a baby boomer marketer, maybe it’s time to think outside the box. The story of Fowles Wine’s Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch is a great example. The label shows an art deco-style image of a lady in her finery out for a hunt. “My wife designs the labels and we actually took advice from a leading marketer about whether this was a good idea. Their response? No!,” explains Fowles Wines owner, Matt Fowles. “We ultimately disagreed and released the wines, but it was useful advice in the sense that it was liberating. We thought, if there is no place in the market for this, then we should just do the designs we really love, so we did. It was all a bit of fun and, surprise, surprise, they sell well.” Art for art’s sake Riverland producer Delinquente Wine Co. has taken label art in an even more contemporary direction channelling a punk ethos on their wines such as The Bullet Dodger Montepulciano and the Screaming Betty Vermentino. “The starting point with the artwork for Delinquente was to do something very different to traditional wine labels, but also to represent things we have a passion for, like street art and alternative culture,’ says winemaker/owner Con-Greg Grigoriou. “The art represents our ideas and allows us to connect with people in an interesting way. We all know a ‘Screaming Betty’, or would at least like to party with her. So they have taken on a life of their own.” Not everyone is a fan. Seventy-nine-year-old wine critic James Halliday described Delinquente Wines as setting “the new low water-mark” for labels in Australia. But he likes their wines. And that’s the thing, the wine has to be good to get the buyer to keep coming back. These days, wine is fashion and bottle shop aisles are the catwalks. Marketing a label is just as important as the wine inside the bottle. Get both right and you could just make it. Traditionalists will most likely continue to stock their cellars with family crested bottles. The millennials crave new and exciting. As for me, I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.