- In light of the new pope, we ask the question: what do they drink in the Vatican? (The answer has Mel considering turning up to Sunday mass)
- Wine’s new power player, Vinarchy, and what it means for the industry.
- An update on China exports – restocking, or a true comeback?
- A few industry shout-outs
- And… things get real. Meg opens up about what it’s really like when the winery you work for goes into administration.
Follow us on instagram @winewithmegandmel
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel.
We're here to help you navigatethe world of wine.
I'm joined by Meg Brotman,master of Wine.
I am Mel Gilchrist.
Okay, well, it's been a littlewhile since we've done a Wine
News and we've got a few topicstoday.
But first we're going to skipwhat you've been drinking, but
we will ask meg do you have afun fact?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I do just because we've elected a new pope yeah,
um I don't know what his newpope name will be, but he's the
first american um north americanpope.
Does he get a different name?
Yeah, they have their.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I think his name's leo, yeah it's his real name,
but I don't just get like a popename.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, because what was Francis?
What was his name?
His name was like Alejandro orJorge or something.
He was from Mendoza.
Anyway, my little fun factwhich I just wanted to tell you
Did you know that per capitaconsumption of alcohol is the
highest in Vatican City?
Isn't that cool.
And I said to you, yeah, butit'd be the per capita
consumption of crappy wine.
(01:04):
And you said no, I reckon theydrink good wine?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I reckon they do.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And then I had a look and they only have one
supermarket, but the VaticanCity is tax free.
Yeah, and you found out thatthey drink wine.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay.
So I asked Chat GPT, who's mybest friend, what do they buy to
drink?
So I haven't specifically saidfor communion, so I don't know
if this is for communion, butone of the top things that they
are known to buy is Barolo, Asti, Spumante wines from Tuscany.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I don't reckon they'd be giving the good stuff to the
peasants.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
You know what, like, I went to a Catholic school and
stuff, but I'm not into any ofthat.
Now, if there was Barolo atchurch, did you have the wine?
No, actually I never had it.
I had the bread, but I neverhad the wine at church, because
it's the body of Christ and theblood of Christ.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
But they didn't give you the wine.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I think I was too young.
I think I tapped out by thetime I was old enough to drink
the wine.
But if it was Barolo Meg, theymight get me back.
True Right, no Times are tough.
I'd go to church for a Barolo.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'd have to sit through an hour-long service for
like one sip of Barolo and acrappy rice cracker.
No, I think, is it ricecrackers?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I don't know.
No, yeah, have you never eatenit?
Are you not Catholic oranything You're not like?
Nah, you're not.
No, that checks out, Doesn'tGod?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
smite you from above if you do it like if you're not
a Catholic, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
No, you're not allowed to eat that body.
That's a pretty bad thing.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah , it's been tipped to two, just
to give it a kick.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It's really, oh my God, they're like forever.
Oh, it's not a nice snack, it'svery boring.
It's like a rice cracker.
Yeah, it's not as nice as arice cracker.
It's like a rice cracker, butit is like a rice cracker that's
been on the bench for threedays with no salt.
Yeah, yeah, austin's nodding.
By the way, we have Austin herewith us today.
(03:07):
Austin is yeah, he's nodding.
He's agreeing with me.
Some of us here are going toheaven.
Meg, good luck.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Sorry, it's so boring , I reckon.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I know all the cool people will be somewhere else,
but Austin is with us.
He is taking videos, not thegood kind of hot like the burn
through.
Anyway, make sure you check outour Instagram, where we are
going to have some schmickvideos, and make sure you follow
Austin, who is kindly makingthese videos for us.
(03:39):
Okay, today we have wine news.
Let me just go through what weare going to cover today.
First we have Vinarki, which isthe new.
They're calling it a merger,but it's not actually a merger.
I dug into that.
We have an update on what'sgoing on with China since the
tariffs have been lifted.
I'm sure everyone tuning in hassome interest about what's
(04:04):
going on with Rob Dolan, and youhave agreed to lift the lid on
that a little bit.
And then we just have a coupleof smaller shout outs of smaller
things going on around theindustry.
So let's just get into it.
Vinaki so Vinaki.
It's really interesting.
They're using the word merged.
So Accade wines and pennerickcards global wine businesses
(04:25):
have merged to form vinaki.
And then I was like digginginto it and I was like what do
you mean?
They've merged?
They haven't merged.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Accolade bought yes, and if you read, if you read any
article, because, even thoughthey're using the term merge
because it sounds better, yeah,we will absorb most of the
pennerick staffard stuff.
I'm sorry, it's yeah, you, it'snot.
The accolade was far biggerthan Pernod Ricard, it's.
Look, they're going to get ridof 50 brands.
(04:56):
They've got 150.
They have three pillars,apparently Hardee's, yeah,
jacob's Creek.
Yeah, and your old mate, my oldmate.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, jacobs Creek.
Yeah, and your old mate, my oldmate, campo Viejo, campo Viejo.
Yeah, nice pronunciation.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
So they are the three mega brands.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
For me.
I don't understand how, fromlike a competition standpoint,
they're even allowed to do it.
It feels like they are going tohave so much power in the wine
game.
Like the merger means moreglobal power, better retail
leverage.
They're going to have a majorAussie HQ have you looked at our
supermarkets lately.
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
In terms of market competition.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, that's true.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So I mean, where are they headquartered?
Pernod Ricard would be inFrance.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
No, no, no.
Pernod Ricard was Pernod Ricardwinemakers was headquartered in
Sydney, okay, but now thisheadquarters is going to be in
Adelaide.
Now my main question I knowthat there's a whole lot of,
like business, interesting stuffwe can discuss, but do you
think the name sounds like aD-grade rock band?
(06:04):
It's Like kind of screamo.
Do you imagine 40-year-old menwith eyeliner on?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
What's that famous mockumentary?
It goes to number 11.
Spinal Tap it's like Spinal Tap.
That's what I thought when Iheard it.
I thought is this a joke?
Because I could just imagineSpinal Tap.
It's full right, it's terrible.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Did you read the week that was?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No, what'd they say?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, we need.
You know it's the least punk.
We actually need more punkattitude in the wine industry.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Oh, that's funny.
The least punk attitude, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That we're getting.
There's no anarchy vibe at all.
Yeah For trying to appeal tothe young ones that were born in
1970.
Do you think that's yeah Withthe punk making along with it?
I mean it's not going to appealto Gen Z or millennials.
That's just such a dick name.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
It's, just it's a spinal tap.
It is a really crap name, let'sbe honest.
But Doesn't this feel like beer?
This feels like beer, right, itfeels like the bigger players
are starting to gobble thesmaller players, and this is
exactly how it started in beer,like 10 years ago, and now there
is no craft beer anymore.
Like, is this the start of theend?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
This happened in the 90s with wine.
Yeah, wine was the first, beeris the second.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So you still hold out hope that we are going to stay
really, because, like wine isinfamously divided in a good way
, like there is so many, likemum and pop family, like there's
just so many producers in wine,you can't compete.
Okay, well, what side are youon?
First you were telling me it'snot going to happen.
Now it feels like you'retelling me it is going to happen
(07:43):
.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, I think that what they do and this always happens
they absorb all these fantasticbrands that are really, really
successful and then they realisethat they can't manage it
because they're big corporates,so they spit them out.
The other side I've got anexample of a friend of mine's
brand at the moment that's in abig group, and so they get rid
of them, they ruin them, theydecimate them Seaview is an
example Treasury great brand$6.99 a bottle fantastic wine,
(08:10):
delivered on what it wassupposed to be.
You couldn't even find Seaviewanymore and it's they don't know
what to do with them.
The only people that Endeavorbecause they've got premium they
haven't bought sort of theconsumer-led brands are managing
to do it in a reasonable way.
But I mean Campo Viejo versusHarvey.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh I mean no, no, they're all massive brands
anyway, like all the PernodRicard wines are big corporates.
Let's be clear.
It just feels like this supergroup of wine happening with all
these huge labels.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Who did they have?
That was small, no one yeah no,no, no, they did it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Oh, no, no, no, they did it.
Oh, no, no.
Actually, the Pernod Ricardwinemakers had quite a few small
boutique ones, but yeah,anything significant was.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
The problem is they can buy shelf space.
That is the biggest concern.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah, well, that's what happened with beer.
Is they started buying all thetaps?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, and unless retailers.
So this is incumbent on ourretailers.
Stand up for more independentwinemakers.
Yeah, they'll just becomegeneric treasury pen and record.
It's like you go to restaurantsand you see it's a treasury
wine list.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, you can tell.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
We'll print it, We'll put it in nice.
You know, little plasticfolders for you.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
As long as you're the store of our wines At the
Contis Lounge.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
The Contis Lounge.
Yeah, it's a bloody treasurywine.
It's fucking appalling.
I'm sorry they should beshowcasing our wine, the
greatest wine, I mean, I knowit's a business class lounge.
I'm sounding like a bit of atoss pot, aren't I?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But yeah, I wouldn't know Meg, I wouldn't.
Must be nice, tell me what it'slike.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It's funded by our bloody government.
Yeah, really, work out, don'tstart me, anyway.
Where was I?
Yes, they should be forced toshowcase small wine producers in
that lounge, as should thebloody airports.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, that's my opinion.
No, that's fair, that's fair,that's a really good point.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
So should Parliament House.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
What Do they drink wine at Parliament House?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
They only have in Victoria Victorian wines, which
I actually think they do.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I thought they specifically don't have wine
there anymore, because thatmoment when Barnaby Joyce was
all drunk and he was like, oh,they have wine at Parliament
House, but I know that theGovernor-General the last
Governor-General she only hadVictorian wine that was served.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
But you know, if these large companies can't get
behind the smaller producers,then we've got no hope.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Alright, well, let's segue.
No, no, no, no, we went reallyfar, but I like where we went
with it.
Okay, so our next topic isChina has lifted their tariffs.
I think it's time that we do anupdate on this, because I think
a lot of people would bewatching going what's going on
there?
Apparently, this ruined thewine industry.
So China?
(10:59):
So is this?
Is this going to fix things?
My, my question.
Okay, so look, red wine exportssurged from 1 million litres to
32 million since March.
That's crazy.
So, meg will winemakers?
Are we going to go all in onChina again, or have we learnt
(11:19):
from putting all our grapes inthe one basket?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Okay, so for three years we were out of China, so
all of the stocks were run down.
The stock that currently isthere when we reopened is old.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
What we're doing at the moment is we're refilling
shares.
Refilling okay.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
So people aren't necessarily buying it.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
No, let's wait and see this time next year whether
there's repeat.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, what do you think?
What's your intel so far?
Do you think the China's?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
consumption has been decreasing since 2018.
It would take what is thestatistics.
It would take China drinking atits 2018 consumption rate.
It would take four years tomove through.
We've got two years of stocksitting here without making a
new vintage.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That was when the tariffs were free.
2025 vintage.
Yeah, it took two years to movefrom that stock.
Don't forget that stock in tankis old.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
It just looks like it's gone down the drain, mm-hmm
.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I don't know.
I don't think we should not be.
I can even see Wine Australiadoing a shift back because it's
easy.
Yeah, you know, you do thesetrade tastings and a bazillion
people turn up.
Now of that, maybe 30% are realwine pickers.
No, but they're in the Chinesemarket.
(12:44):
There's 20% youth unemployment.
Who's drinking the wine?
Pretty much the youth.
That's who we need to betalking to the youth, really.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I thought the wine was all much the youth.
That's who we need to betalking to the youth, really.
I thought the wine was allgoing to business people who use
it as like kickers and stuffgifting.
Gifting was banned by XiJinping.
I thought they were doing itanyway.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
They do do it anyway, it's like anything, yeah, it's
like anywhere in the world.
Laws are going to be fewerbecause, obviously because one
china's population, but there's20 youth unemployment.
(13:20):
People can't afford to live.
The economy's because of theproperty bust is completely
stale.
Yeah, um, it's an interestingtime and you know the places
that take.
You go into an average time.
Average chinese restaurants.
Average restaurant in china.
We would like to eat like yeah,not some sort of international
(13:41):
restaurant oh I'm seeing areally cute little girl.
Don't distract me um.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
They don't serve wine , they serve beer yeah, yeah,
yeah um, so it's a sort of morewealthy people that drink wine
anyway in china it's not part ofdaily, so you don't sound like
you have the highest hopes forthis going super well and us
going back to the glory days ofchina.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I don't want us to be putting too many marketing
dollars in there.
I want us to be spending ourmarketing dollars and maybe, Jim
since we all voted you back in,Jim Chalmers put some money
into export market developmentgrants for the Australian wine
industry, since it's beenscrewed because of politics two
ways.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I love that.
No matter where we start, youfind a way to land on politics.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
The thing is you know they funded some steelworks in
Wyala to $12 million and we'vebeen begging for money and that
steelworks, I think, brought inlike a billion in revenue.
We did $4 billion at our peakin revenue and yet we're not
getting any money.
There's $50 million on thetable for all of agriculture and
(14:51):
it's just not enough.
I think the wine industry needsdefinite restructuring, but we
also need for those that arestill standing.
We need to have some sort ofroute to market and to say I'll
just ring Austrade Well, that'snot where I'm going, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
All right.
Well, we've digressed, but goodinformation.
Okay, meg, this one's close tohome.
Yes, we met at Rob Dolan Wines.
This is how this podcast allbegan.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yes, in COVID.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, and up until recently you were working for
Rob Dolan Wines, which anyonewho is in the Arrow Valley
probably knows.
It was in the Herald Sun butit's actually not as widespread
as I thought it would have gone.
Rob Dolan-Wines has gone intoadministration.
Yes, Can you tell us a littlebit about how we got there and
(15:39):
what now?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So Rob Dolan-Wines went into administration on the
27th of March, which is all avery you then work in this sort
of twilight zone.
Everyone was made redundant onthat day.
That's crazy Because there wasan underlying company that was
liquidated straight away andthat was a company that actually
employed all of the staff.
Then some of the staff wereautomatically sort of
(16:06):
re-employed on a casual basis bythe administrators to get them
through.
So the role of theadministrator is to A put aside
the I don't know how much theymake a quarter million, $300,000
for the administrator and thentry to claw back as much money
as they can for the creditors.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
So I read in the Herald Sun that there was 8
million owed and 22,30-something creditors, 35
creditors, 35 creditors.
So I don't even understand howthis process works.
So are they getting paid back?
What's happening?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So what happens is the administrator tries to
liquidate the stock, sell offstock, and in this case there's
been an agreement for some ofthe stock to be bought by third
parties and so they've paid theadministrator money.
So the administrator then takeswhatever pot of money they've
(17:04):
got, takes their fee out of itand then goes back to the
creditors and says, okay, say weowe you $8 million and we've
got $800,000.
You get a percent.
Yeah, wow.
So if you're owed, say they get$0.10 in the dollar, which is
sort of I was talking to ourexport manager, Garrett Harbison
, and he'd been with McWilliamsthey get between usually, rule
(17:28):
of thumb, $0.10 to $0.12 in thedollar.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
From the outset, like Rob Dolan looked like a really
strong brand.
Beautiful Salador,award-winning wines, great wines
.
To be honest, fantastic wine.
How did we end up here?
Like, how does that happen?
Like, should other wines benervous?
Is this something that's takingover the industry?
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Well, clearly I'm not the bosses of the business, but
clearly there was a debtholding that just could not be
covered.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
That is from, if you look at the amount of the
creditors and the amount ofmoney.
I mean we were shocked becausewe saw the business from outside
and we were in growth online.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Like branded was in growth right, yeah, okay, it got
robbed online.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
There's many parts in growth right, yeah, okay, it
got robbed online.
There's many parts.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It's contracted, yeah , okay, so that's lots of parts.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
The market's a little bit tougher, okay.
So you know, maybe there wasn'tenough money being made on the
bulk side, but from the brandedperspective it was a super
successful it was.
You know, we had a consultantin and he said you know, you
could be the envy of many winecompanies yeah.
So it is absolutelyheartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It's really sad.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
The cellar door's been closed but it's in the
building which has the farm,which is a function centre, and
the owner of the farm, who wasalso a partner in Rob Dolan
Wines, has taken over the cellardoor, so he's working on that.
So all of our local drinkers,cellar door people, are so happy
.
People were crying.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, oh, I bet.
No, I know Like there's areally strong community around
the business.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, We've come up with.
Our tagline is we're ValleyMeats Village.
That's what we're calling thesalad door.
Now, that's sort of our tagline.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
That's really cute.
So the salad door will be openand can you still buy rub dollar
wine there.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Rub dollar wines is being sold through there.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Okay, and if?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
we luck, they'll be able to trade out.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, okay.
So then, what do we know whatthe future?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
looks like.
No, we don't.
There's a creditors' meeting onMonday, the 12th of May, so by
the time people hear thecreditors' meeting, so we will
know then whether they've beenable to trade out of the
business or it's been.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
We don't know.
We sat on the first creditors'meeting and that's where the
Herald Sun was and I was like,oh my God.
And some yeah, it was.
And I was like, oh my god.
And the administrator, caitlinwho was awesome, one of the best
chicks I've ever met in my lifeshe said, yeah, they, they've
been ringing her.
Yeah, it's unbelievable, and Imean seeing that newspaper story
.
It was behind a paywall but thetop line was you know, and the
(20:12):
iconic cellar door takes a hit.
So all that poor cellar doorpeople, it's been very hard to
manage.
It's been a bit of a lesson incrisis management yeah,
absolutely which you know I'mnot really equipped to do, but
we any message that you send outthrough social media um yeah or
digital means has to beapproved by the administrator,
(20:34):
because I didn't know that.
So, um, we would sendeverything to the person we were
dealing with and she would sayyay or nay on whether we could
send it, because you need tocommunicate, you can't just go
death silent.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
There's been a little bit of blowback.
There's been a couple ofunhappy, a couple more than that
.
There's been some pretty toughphone calls and emails.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
I bet.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Our Saladal staff have got a little bit of abuse
but for the most part people are.
We honoured the vouchers andthe wine club memberships.
That was because the ex-partnerbought out that debt and
honoured that, which was themost honourable thing to do yeah
, okay.
But some people have slippedthrough that crack and have
tried to come and redeem theirvouchers and haven't been able
(21:21):
to.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Okay, so there's some messy stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
There's some messy stuff and it's been tough
because no one from management'sthere, it's just us.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, so does that mean Rob's?
Does Rob not?
Is he not in the business atall?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
anymore.
He's been gone since the day wewent into administration.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Okay, okay, so everyone has keys.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Wow, wow, yeah, it's all pretty.
You feel like you've committeda crime.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Really sad yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So they're collecting the keys and they're, you know,
going through the keys andmaking sure that you're all.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
And I think the last thing everyone is going to be
wondering is what about you now?
Like that was your job right.
Who wants to give me a job?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah, I've been helping the new operator of the
cellar door with cellar door.
I've also been working with theadministrator.
This is a lot of messy ends totie up.
Yeah, there's a lot in play.
You know, distributors stillneed to get their wines and
there was labelling to be done,so there was a lot of stuff to
(22:23):
do.
Hopefully, after the creditors'meeting on the 12th of May,
we'll have a clearer picture andI'll just help out with Salador
.
And yeah, if anyone wants tooffer me some consultancy work
or a full-time job.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Give me a call.
I'd say you're an industrystrategist for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, so I just think , just support your local winery
.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Support your local hey.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
You know we're not the first Someone who was I
talking to who's a distributor.
They've had another one oftheir wineries the other day go
into administration.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
We will see more and more of it and I just, you know,
wish well everyone at Rob DolanWines.
You know it's been a reallytough, very stressful time
because of course, we've beenaware of it for a little bit
longer than most people.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, it was coming yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
And everyone's been really gracious and honourable
in the way they've been dealtwith, because they were detained
for their last week of work,yeah, and they have to claim
back all of their leaveentitlements and everything
through FED, which is the FairWages Guarantee, or something
(24:02):
which we were told was going totake 12 to 16 weeks and they've
come back and said 30 weeks.
Wow, yep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So some of these people Is there anyone out there
that needs support that we canhelp in any way, like?
Is there people needing jobsthat we can do shout-outs for?
Is there winemakers that havegone somewhere else that we can
help in any way, like?
Is there people needing jobsthat we can do shout-outs for?
Is there winemakers that havegone somewhere else that we can
shout-out their brands?
Is there anything that we cando now that our listeners who
want to help can do?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Just buy more Australian and outside Victorian
and try to find family and Iknow it's a pain in the ass to
not have to go outside of DanMurphy's and BWS but support
your small local stores as well,because on the day that we
found out about the liquidationadministration, a friend of mine
(24:52):
her partner, has they have apub and she went into
liquidation the same day.
Yeah, for a similar reason.
Wow, the debt level.
Just they have a pub and shewent into liquidation.
The same day.
Yeah, for a similar reason.
Wow, the debt level.
Just they took out money andthen the pub came back.
It's hard Post-COVID.
It's just heartbreaking.
But our administrator wassaying that she gets seven a
week and back in the day, butpre-COVID, it was two.
(25:13):
Wow.
So hey, good business to be in.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, ruthless, ruthless.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Although I've got to say it was with the person we
were dealing with.
She was just fantastic.
She just, you know she has toget her job done, but she was
very clear and she treated allthe staff with real respect.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Well, thank you seriously for opening up about
that.
That that's like it's aseriously hard time that you
have gone through personally.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Not that I have still been working full time.
Next week might be a bit ofdowntime and then I'm off to Van
Expo.
So I've got a week in.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, for fun, You're not even working.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
As I said to my Pete's going, so I said well,
shit, I'm not working.
Now Go Lights.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
So I said well shit, I'm not working now.
Go Flights are really cheapyeah.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Don't mean to be rude , being Hershey for you
listening, but the Hershey Hotel, so why wouldn't I go, I know.
But I'll go there and you know,our wonderful export consultant
will come out open to work Onyour LinkedIn, I think it looks
a bit trash.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, it does a little bit.
Yeah, jesus, all right.
Well, look, we have just acouple of headlines, just like
quick ones to run through tofinish up today.
The first one is Sarah Crowehas just released the latest
vintage of Yarra Garing and itis a 10th vintage there, so
(26:34):
congratulations.
It is the 2023.
So 2013 was Crowe's first year.
I cannot believe she's beenthere 10 years I know, and
somehow it just keeps gettingbetter.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I can't imagine it kind of without her, even though
bridgie was there beforehand.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Well done yeah, it's awesome.
So um 2023 wines, uh specialdinner.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Go and get invited I don't know.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I k, kate, if you're listening.
You know what, kate?
I've never gone to a YaraYaring dinner.
Maybe you should have one andinvite us.
So there's that one.
Okay, so we have another shoutout.
Um, so this is an interestingone that I'm.
Are you across the Moris o'sheaaward?
Yes, oh, okay, so I wasn't.
(27:19):
So this is for industry people.
Morris o'shea award is backmarking its 35th anniversary,
but it's only done every threeyears, which I guess I just
wasn't across.
This.
Are you?
What do you know about this?
I don't know.
Some of the materials mountpleasant, grange, grange, what?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
he's a very famous australian winemaker and he was
I wouldn't know, it wouldn't saynecessarily innovative, but he,
I think refrigeration they weresaying that he was really big
on refrigeration in the hunterback in the was really big on
refrigeration in the Hunter backin the day.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, okay.
So is he Mick Williams or MountPleasant?
Because they're the two, theaward is run by Mick Williams
and Mount Pleasant.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Well, Mount Pleasant bought Mick Williams.
Oh okay, I can't remember whatone he worked for, but he worked
for something like 55 years.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
So there's an award called the Excellence in Action
Award, which is returning.
It's a new one that spotlightspeople navigating the messier
modern challenges in wine, whichis an interesting call out,
considering what we've beentalking about this episode.
So I just wanted to put that inthere to let people know that
you can nominate for this award,so make sure you check it out
(28:41):
and if someone is doingoutstanding things in wine, you
can nominate them.
Matt Pleasant Is who we workedfor.
Yeah, okay, the father ofAustralian modern winemaking.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I think from my uni days that he was accredited with
introducing refrigeration inHunter, which would have changed
Hunter Simeon enormously.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it would have.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
So I don't know if that's true,but that's sort of one of those
legendary things that they saidat uni Hunter 52, Hunter Valley
, Stephen Hermitage.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well, look, that's it for us this week.
Next week we are going to belooking at I don't know if it's
been all over your socials andnews and everything but I'm
hearing a lot about the CastanetMurphy Awards and they've taken
all of their wine and tasted itall and they've come out with
the best of the best and we'relike, well, we'll see about that
(29:31):
, we're going to taste them.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, it'll be fun.
I mean, it is sub 50.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, seems like it.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
We're not drinking Barolo, but you know.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
We're not.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
It's all right.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
We'll see Next time.
Dan, do the good stuff and thensponsor this segment.
All right, we will see you nexttime.
Aren't we, I know, Do we seemreal like needy?
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
You love us.
This is the only chance we getto catch up.
If we didn't do the podcast, wewouldn't see each other, all
right.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I work at the Boccaccio, the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
It's actually kind of halfway into the morning.
Okay, are we going out fordinner Lunch, okay, great.
Okay, join next class of wine.
Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel.
We're here to help you navigatethe world of wine.
I'm joined by Meg Brotman,master of Wine.
I am Mel Gilchrist.
Okay, well, it's been a littlewhile since we've done a Wine
News and we've got a few topicstoday.
But first we're going to skipwhat you've been drinking, but
we will ask meg do you have afun fact?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I do just because we've elected a new pope yeah,
um I don't know what his newpope name will be, but he's the
first american um north americanpope.
Does he get a different name?
Yeah, they have their.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I think his name's leo, yeah it's his real name,
but I don't just get like a popename.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, because what was Francis?
What was his name?
His name was like Alejandro orJorge or something.
He was from Mendoza.
Anyway, my little fun factwhich I just wanted to tell you
Did you know that per capitaconsumption of alcohol is the
highest in Vatican City?
Isn't that cool.
And I said to you, yeah, butit'd be the per capita
consumption of crappy wine.
(01:04):
And you said no, I reckon theydrink good wine?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I reckon they do.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And then I had a look and they only have one
supermarket, but the VaticanCity is tax free.
Yeah, and you found out thatthey drink wine.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay.
So I asked Chat GPT, who's mybest friend, what do they buy to
drink?
So I haven't specifically saidfor communion, so I don't know
if this is for communion, butone of the top things that they
are known to buy is Barolo, Asti, Spumante wines from Tuscany.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I don't reckon they'd be giving the good stuff to the
peasants.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
You know what, like, I went to a Catholic school and
stuff, but I'm not into any ofthat.
Now, if there was Barolo atchurch, did you have the wine?
No, actually I never had it.
I had the bread, but I neverhad the wine at church, because
it's the body of Christ and theblood of Christ.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
But they didn't give you the wine.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I think I was too young.
I think I tapped out by thetime I was old enough to drink
the wine.
But if it was Barolo Meg, theymight get me back.
True Right, no Times are tough.
I'd go to church for a Barolo.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'd have to sit through an hour-long service for
like one sip of Barolo and acrappy rice cracker.
No, I think, is it ricecrackers?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I don't know.
No, yeah, have you never eatenit?
Are you not Catholic oranything You're not like?
Nah, you're not.
No, that checks out, Doesn'tGod?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
smite you from above if you do it like if you're not
a Catholic, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
No, you're not allowed to eat that body.
That's a pretty bad thing.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah , it's been tipped to two, just
to give it a kick.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It's really, oh my God, they're like forever.
Oh, it's not a nice snack, it'svery boring.
It's like a rice cracker.
Yeah, it's not as nice as arice cracker.
It's like a rice cracker, butit is like a rice cracker that's
been on the bench for threedays with no salt.
Yeah, yeah, austin's nodding.
By the way, we have Austin herewith us today.
(03:07):
Austin is yeah, he's nodding.
He's agreeing with me.
Some of us here are going toheaven.
Meg, good luck.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Sorry, it's so boring , I reckon.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I know all the cool people will be somewhere else,
but Austin is with us.
He is taking videos, not thegood kind of hot like the burn
through.
Anyway, make sure you check outour Instagram, where we are
going to have some schmickvideos, and make sure you follow
Austin, who is kindly makingthese videos for us.
(03:39):
Okay, today we have wine news.
Let me just go through what weare going to cover today.
First we have Vinarki, which isthe new.
They're calling it a merger,but it's not actually a merger.
I dug into that.
We have an update on what'sgoing on with China since the
tariffs have been lifted.
I'm sure everyone tuning in hassome interest about what's
(04:04):
going on with Rob Dolan, and youhave agreed to lift the lid on
that a little bit.
And then we just have a coupleof smaller shout outs of smaller
things going on around theindustry.
So let's just get into it.
Vinaki so Vinaki.
It's really interesting.
They're using the word merged.
So Accade wines and pennerickcards global wine businesses
(04:25):
have merged to form vinaki.
And then I was like digginginto it and I was like what do
you mean?
They've merged?
They haven't merged.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Accolade bought yes, and if you read, if you read any
article, because, even thoughthey're using the term merge
because it sounds better, yeah,we will absorb most of the
pennerick staffard stuff.
I'm sorry, it's yeah, you, it'snot.
The accolade was far biggerthan Pernod Ricard, it's.
Look, they're going to get ridof 50 brands.
(04:56):
They've got 150.
They have three pillars,apparently Hardee's, yeah,
jacob's Creek.
Yeah, and your old mate, my oldmate.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, jacobs Creek.
Yeah, and your old mate, my oldmate, campo Viejo, campo Viejo.
Yeah, nice pronunciation.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
So they are the three mega brands.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
For me.
I don't understand how, fromlike a competition standpoint,
they're even allowed to do it.
It feels like they are going tohave so much power in the wine
game.
Like the merger means moreglobal power, better retail
leverage.
They're going to have a majorAussie HQ have you looked at our
supermarkets lately.
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
In terms of market competition.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, that's true.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So I mean, where are they headquartered?
Pernod Ricard would be inFrance.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
No, no, no.
Pernod Ricard was Pernod Ricardwinemakers was headquartered in
Sydney, okay, but now thisheadquarters is going to be in
Adelaide.
Now my main question I knowthat there's a whole lot of,
like business, interesting stuffwe can discuss, but do you
think the name sounds like aD-grade rock band?
(06:04):
It's Like kind of screamo.
Do you imagine 40-year-old menwith eyeliner on?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
What's that famous mockumentary?
It goes to number 11.
Spinal Tap it's like Spinal Tap.
That's what I thought when Iheard it.
I thought is this a joke?
Because I could just imagineSpinal Tap.
It's full right, it's terrible.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Did you read the week that was?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No, what'd they say?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, we need.
You know it's the least punk.
We actually need more punkattitude in the wine industry.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Oh, that's funny.
The least punk attitude, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That we're getting.
There's no anarchy vibe at all.
Yeah For trying to appeal tothe young ones that were born in
1970.
Do you think that's yeah Withthe punk making along with it?
I mean it's not going to appealto Gen Z or millennials.
That's just such a dick name.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
It's, just it's a spinal tap.
It is a really crap name, let'sbe honest.
But Doesn't this feel like beer?
This feels like beer, right, itfeels like the bigger players
are starting to gobble thesmaller players, and this is
exactly how it started in beer,like 10 years ago, and now there
is no craft beer anymore.
Like, is this the start of theend?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
This happened in the 90s with wine.
Yeah, wine was the first, beeris the second.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So you still hold out hope that we are going to stay
really, because, like wine isinfamously divided in a good way
, like there is so many, likemum and pop family, like there's
just so many producers in wine,you can't compete.
Okay, well, what side are youon?
First you were telling me it'snot going to happen.
Now it feels like you'retelling me it is going to happen
(07:43):
.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, I think that what they do and this always happens
they absorb all these fantasticbrands that are really, really
successful and then they realisethat they can't manage it
because they're big corporates,so they spit them out.
The other side I've got anexample of a friend of mine's
brand at the moment that's in abig group, and so they get rid
of them, they ruin them, theydecimate them Seaview is an
example Treasury great brand$6.99 a bottle fantastic wine,
(08:10):
delivered on what it wassupposed to be.
You couldn't even find Seaviewanymore and it's they don't know
what to do with them.
The only people that Endeavorbecause they've got premium they
haven't bought sort of theconsumer-led brands are managing
to do it in a reasonable way.
But I mean Campo Viejo versusHarvey.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh I mean no, no, they're all massive brands
anyway, like all the PernodRicard wines are big corporates.
Let's be clear.
It just feels like this supergroup of wine happening with all
these huge labels.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Who did they have?
That was small, no one yeah no,no, no, they did it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Oh, no, no, no, they did it.
Oh, no, no.
Actually, the Pernod Ricardwinemakers had quite a few small
boutique ones, but yeah,anything significant was.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
The problem is they can buy shelf space.
That is the biggest concern.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah, well, that's what happened with beer.
Is they started buying all thetaps?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, and unless retailers.
So this is incumbent on ourretailers.
Stand up for more independentwinemakers.
Yeah, they'll just becomegeneric treasury pen and record.
It's like you go to restaurantsand you see it's a treasury
wine list.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, you can tell.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
We'll print it, We'll put it in nice.
You know, little plasticfolders for you.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
As long as you're the store of our wines At the
Contis Lounge.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
The Contis Lounge.
Yeah, it's a bloody treasurywine.
It's fucking appalling.
I'm sorry they should beshowcasing our wine, the
greatest wine, I mean, I knowit's a business class lounge.
I'm sounding like a bit of atoss pot, aren't I?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But yeah, I wouldn't know Meg, I wouldn't.
Must be nice, tell me what it'slike.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It's funded by our bloody government.
Yeah, really, work out, don'tstart me, anyway.
Where was I?
Yes, they should be forced toshowcase small wine producers in
that lounge, as should thebloody airports.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, that's my opinion.
No, that's fair, that's fair,that's a really good point.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
So should Parliament House.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
What Do they drink wine at Parliament House?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
They only have in Victoria Victorian wines, which
I actually think they do.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I thought they specifically don't have wine
there anymore, because thatmoment when Barnaby Joyce was
all drunk and he was like, oh,they have wine at Parliament
House, but I know that theGovernor-General the last
Governor-General she only hadVictorian wine that was served.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
But you know, if these large companies can't get
behind the smaller producers,then we've got no hope.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Alright, well, let's segue.
No, no, no, no, we went reallyfar, but I like where we went
with it.
Okay, so our next topic isChina has lifted their tariffs.
I think it's time that we do anupdate on this, because I think
a lot of people would bewatching going what's going on
there?
Apparently, this ruined thewine industry.
So China?
(10:59):
So is this?
Is this going to fix things?
My, my question.
Okay, so look, red wine exportssurged from 1 million litres to
32 million since March.
That's crazy.
So, meg will winemakers?
Are we going to go all in onChina again, or have we learnt
(11:19):
from putting all our grapes inthe one basket?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Okay, so for three years we were out of China, so
all of the stocks were run down.
The stock that currently isthere when we reopened is old.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
What we're doing at the moment is we're refilling
shares.
Refilling okay.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
So people aren't necessarily buying it.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
No, let's wait and see this time next year whether
there's repeat.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, what do you think?
What's your intel so far?
Do you think the China's?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
consumption has been decreasing since 2018.
It would take what is thestatistics.
It would take China drinking atits 2018 consumption rate.
It would take four years tomove through.
We've got two years of stocksitting here without making a
new vintage.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That was when the tariffs were free.
2025 vintage.
Yeah, it took two years to movefrom that stock.
Don't forget that stock in tankis old.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
It just looks like it's gone down the drain, mm-hmm
.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I don't know.
I don't think we should not be.
I can even see Wine Australiadoing a shift back because it's
easy.
Yeah, you know, you do thesetrade tastings and a bazillion
people turn up.
Now of that, maybe 30% are realwine pickers.
No, but they're in the Chinesemarket.
(12:44):
There's 20% youth unemployment.
Who's drinking the wine?
Pretty much the youth.
That's who we need to betalking to the youth, really.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I thought the wine was all much the youth.
That's who we need to betalking to the youth, really.
I thought the wine was allgoing to business people who use
it as like kickers and stuffgifting.
Gifting was banned by XiJinping.
I thought they were doing itanyway.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
They do do it anyway, it's like anything, yeah, it's
like anywhere in the world.
Laws are going to be fewerbecause, obviously because one
china's population, but there's20 youth unemployment.
(13:20):
People can't afford to live.
The economy's because of theproperty bust is completely
stale.
Yeah, um, it's an interestingtime and you know the places
that take.
You go into an average time.
Average chinese restaurants.
Average restaurant in china.
We would like to eat like yeah,not some sort of international
(13:41):
restaurant oh I'm seeing areally cute little girl.
Don't distract me um.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
They don't serve wine , they serve beer yeah, yeah,
yeah um, so it's a sort of morewealthy people that drink wine
anyway in china it's not part ofdaily, so you don't sound like
you have the highest hopes forthis going super well and us
going back to the glory days ofchina.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I don't want us to be putting too many marketing
dollars in there.
I want us to be spending ourmarketing dollars and maybe, Jim
since we all voted you back in,Jim Chalmers put some money
into export market developmentgrants for the Australian wine
industry, since it's beenscrewed because of politics two
ways.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I love that.
No matter where we start, youfind a way to land on politics.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
The thing is you know they funded some steelworks in
Wyala to $12 million and we'vebeen begging for money and that
steelworks, I think, brought inlike a billion in revenue.
We did $4 billion at our peakin revenue and yet we're not
getting any money.
There's $50 million on thetable for all of agriculture and
(14:51):
it's just not enough.
I think the wine industry needsdefinite restructuring, but we
also need for those that arestill standing.
We need to have some sort ofroute to market and to say I'll
just ring Austrade Well, that'snot where I'm going, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
All right.
Well, we've digressed, but goodinformation.
Okay, meg, this one's close tohome.
Yes, we met at Rob Dolan Wines.
This is how this podcast allbegan.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yes, in COVID.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, and up until recently you were working for
Rob Dolan Wines, which anyonewho is in the Arrow Valley
probably knows.
It was in the Herald Sun butit's actually not as widespread
as I thought it would have gone.
Rob Dolan-Wines has gone intoadministration.
Yes, Can you tell us a littlebit about how we got there and
(15:39):
what now?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So Rob Dolan-Wines went into administration on the
27th of March, which is all avery you then work in this sort
of twilight zone.
Everyone was made redundant onthat day.
That's crazy Because there wasan underlying company that was
liquidated straight away andthat was a company that actually
employed all of the staff.
Then some of the staff wereautomatically sort of
(16:06):
re-employed on a casual basis bythe administrators to get them
through.
So the role of theadministrator is to A put aside
the I don't know how much theymake a quarter million, $300,000
for the administrator and thentry to claw back as much money
as they can for the creditors.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
So I read in the Herald Sun that there was 8
million owed and 22,30-something creditors, 35
creditors, 35 creditors.
So I don't even understand howthis process works.
So are they getting paid back?
What's happening?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So what happens is the administrator tries to
liquidate the stock, sell offstock, and in this case there's
been an agreement for some ofthe stock to be bought by third
parties and so they've paid theadministrator money.
So the administrator then takeswhatever pot of money they've
(17:04):
got, takes their fee out of itand then goes back to the
creditors and says, okay, say weowe you $8 million and we've
got $800,000.
You get a percent.
Yeah, wow.
So if you're owed, say they get$0.10 in the dollar, which is
sort of I was talking to ourexport manager, Garrett Harbison
, and he'd been with McWilliamsthey get between usually, rule
(17:28):
of thumb, $0.10 to $0.12 in thedollar.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
From the outset, like Rob Dolan looked like a really
strong brand.
Beautiful Salador,award-winning wines, great wines
.
To be honest, fantastic wine.
How did we end up here?
Like, how does that happen?
Like, should other wines benervous?
Is this something that's takingover the industry?
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Well, clearly I'm not the bosses of the business, but
clearly there was a debtholding that just could not be
covered.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
That is from, if you look at the amount of the
creditors and the amount ofmoney.
I mean we were shocked becausewe saw the business from outside
and we were in growth online.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Like branded was in growth right, yeah, okay, it got
robbed online.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
There's many parts in growth right, yeah, okay, it
got robbed online.
There's many parts.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It's contracted, yeah , okay, so that's lots of parts.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
The market's a little bit tougher, okay.
So you know, maybe there wasn'tenough money being made on the
bulk side, but from the brandedperspective it was a super
successful it was.
You know, we had a consultantin and he said you know, you
could be the envy of many winecompanies yeah.
So it is absolutelyheartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It's really sad.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
The cellar door's been closed but it's in the
building which has the farm,which is a function centre, and
the owner of the farm, who wasalso a partner in Rob Dolan
Wines, has taken over the cellardoor, so he's working on that.
So all of our local drinkers,cellar door people, are so happy
.
People were crying.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, oh, I bet.
No, I know Like there's areally strong community around
the business.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, We've come up with.
Our tagline is we're ValleyMeats Village.
That's what we're calling thesalad door.
Now, that's sort of our tagline.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
That's really cute.
So the salad door will be openand can you still buy rub dollar
wine there.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Rub dollar wines is being sold through there.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Okay, and if?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
we luck, they'll be able to trade out.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, okay.
So then, what do we know whatthe future?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
looks like.
No, we don't.
There's a creditors' meeting onMonday, the 12th of May, so by
the time people hear thecreditors' meeting, so we will
know then whether they've beenable to trade out of the
business or it's been.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
We don't know.
We sat on the first creditors'meeting and that's where the
Herald Sun was and I was like,oh my God.
And some yeah, it was.
And I was like, oh my god.
And the administrator, caitlinwho was awesome, one of the best
chicks I've ever met in my lifeshe said, yeah, they, they've
been ringing her.
Yeah, it's unbelievable, and Imean seeing that newspaper story
.
It was behind a paywall but thetop line was you know, and the
(20:12):
iconic cellar door takes a hit.
So all that poor cellar doorpeople, it's been very hard to
manage.
It's been a bit of a lesson incrisis management yeah,
absolutely which you know I'mnot really equipped to do, but
we any message that you send outthrough social media um yeah or
digital means has to beapproved by the administrator,
(20:34):
because I didn't know that.
So, um, we would sendeverything to the person we were
dealing with and she would sayyay or nay on whether we could
send it, because you need tocommunicate, you can't just go
death silent.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
There's been a little bit of blowback.
There's been a couple ofunhappy, a couple more than that
.
There's been some pretty toughphone calls and emails.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
I bet.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Our Saladal staff have got a little bit of abuse
but for the most part people are.
We honoured the vouchers andthe wine club memberships.
That was because the ex-partnerbought out that debt and
honoured that, which was themost honourable thing to do yeah
, okay.
But some people have slippedthrough that crack and have
tried to come and redeem theirvouchers and haven't been able
(21:21):
to.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Okay, so there's some messy stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
There's some messy stuff and it's been tough
because no one from management'sthere, it's just us.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, so does that mean Rob's?
Does Rob not?
Is he not in the business atall?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
anymore.
He's been gone since the day wewent into administration.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Okay, okay, so everyone has keys.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Wow, wow, yeah, it's all pretty.
You feel like you've committeda crime.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Really sad yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So they're collecting the keys and they're, you know,
going through the keys andmaking sure that you're all.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
And I think the last thing everyone is going to be
wondering is what about you now?
Like that was your job right.
Who wants to give me a job?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah, I've been helping the new operator of the
cellar door with cellar door.
I've also been working with theadministrator.
This is a lot of messy ends totie up.
Yeah, there's a lot in play.
You know, distributors stillneed to get their wines and
there was labelling to be done,so there was a lot of stuff to
(22:23):
do.
Hopefully, after the creditors'meeting on the 12th of May,
we'll have a clearer picture andI'll just help out with Salador
.
And yeah, if anyone wants tooffer me some consultancy work
or a full-time job.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Give me a call.
I'd say you're an industrystrategist for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, so I just think , just support your local winery
.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Support your local hey.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
You know we're not the first Someone who was I
talking to who's a distributor.
They've had another one oftheir wineries the other day go
into administration.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
We will see more and more of it and I just, you know,
wish well everyone at Rob DolanWines.
You know it's been a reallytough, very stressful time
because of course, we've beenaware of it for a little bit
longer than most people.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, it was coming yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
And everyone's been really gracious and honourable
in the way they've been dealtwith, because they were detained
for their last week of work,yeah, and they have to claim
back all of their leaveentitlements and everything
through FED, which is the FairWages Guarantee, or something
(24:02):
which we were told was going totake 12 to 16 weeks and they've
come back and said 30 weeks.
Wow, yep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So some of these people Is there anyone out there
that needs support that we canhelp in any way, like?
Is there people needing jobsthat we can do shout-outs for?
Is there winemakers that havegone somewhere else that we can
help in any way, like?
Is there people needing jobsthat we can do shout-outs for?
Is there winemakers that havegone somewhere else that we can
shout-out their brands?
Is there anything that we cando now that our listeners who
want to help can do?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Just buy more Australian and outside Victorian
and try to find family and Iknow it's a pain in the ass to
not have to go outside of DanMurphy's and BWS but support
your small local stores as well,because on the day that we
found out about the liquidationadministration, a friend of mine
(24:52):
her partner, has they have apub and she went into
liquidation the same day.
Yeah, for a similar reason.
Wow, the debt level.
Just they have a pub and shewent into liquidation.
The same day.
Yeah, for a similar reason.
Wow, the debt level.
Just they took out money andthen the pub came back.
It's hard Post-COVID.
It's just heartbreaking.
But our administrator wassaying that she gets seven a
week and back in the day, butpre-COVID, it was two.
(25:13):
Wow.
So hey, good business to be in.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, ruthless, ruthless.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Although I've got to say it was with the person we
were dealing with.
She was just fantastic.
She just, you know she has toget her job done, but she was
very clear and she treated allthe staff with real respect.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Well, thank you seriously for opening up about
that.
That that's like it's aseriously hard time that you
have gone through personally.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Not that I have still been working full time.
Next week might be a bit ofdowntime and then I'm off to Van
Expo.
So I've got a week in.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, for fun, You're not even working.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
As I said to my Pete's going, so I said well,
shit, I'm not working.
Now Go Lights.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
So I said well shit, I'm not working now.
Go Flights are really cheapyeah.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Don't mean to be rude , being Hershey for you
listening, but the Hershey Hotel, so why wouldn't I go, I know.
But I'll go there and you know,our wonderful export consultant
will come out open to work Onyour LinkedIn, I think it looks
a bit trash.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, it does a little bit.
Yeah, jesus, all right.
Well, look, we have just acouple of headlines, just like
quick ones to run through tofinish up today.
The first one is Sarah Crowehas just released the latest
vintage of Yarra Garing and itis a 10th vintage there, so
(26:34):
congratulations.
It is the 2023.
So 2013 was Crowe's first year.
I cannot believe she's beenthere 10 years I know, and
somehow it just keeps gettingbetter.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I can't imagine it kind of without her, even though
bridgie was there beforehand.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Well done yeah, it's awesome.
So um 2023 wines, uh specialdinner.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Go and get invited I don't know.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I k, kate, if you're listening.
You know what, kate?
I've never gone to a YaraYaring dinner.
Maybe you should have one andinvite us.
So there's that one.
Okay, so we have another shoutout.
Um, so this is an interestingone that I'm.
Are you across the Moris o'sheaaward?
Yes, oh, okay, so I wasn't.
(27:19):
So this is for industry people.
Morris o'shea award is backmarking its 35th anniversary,
but it's only done every threeyears, which I guess I just
wasn't across.
This.
Are you?
What do you know about this?
I don't know.
Some of the materials mountpleasant, grange, grange, what?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
he's a very famous australian winemaker and he was
I wouldn't know, it wouldn't saynecessarily innovative, but he,
I think refrigeration they weresaying that he was really big
on refrigeration in the hunterback in the was really big on
refrigeration in the Hunter backin the day.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, okay.
So is he Mick Williams or MountPleasant?
Because they're the two, theaward is run by Mick Williams
and Mount Pleasant.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Well, Mount Pleasant bought Mick Williams.
Oh okay, I can't remember whatone he worked for, but he worked
for something like 55 years.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
So there's an award called the Excellence in Action
Award, which is returning.
It's a new one that spotlightspeople navigating the messier
modern challenges in wine, whichis an interesting call out,
considering what we've beentalking about this episode.
So I just wanted to put that inthere to let people know that
you can nominate for this award,so make sure you check it out
(28:41):
and if someone is doingoutstanding things in wine, you
can nominate them.
Matt Pleasant Is who we workedfor.
Yeah, okay, the father ofAustralian modern winemaking.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I think from my uni days that he was accredited with
introducing refrigeration inHunter, which would have changed
Hunter Simeon enormously.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it would have.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
So I don't know if that's true,but that's sort of one of those
legendary things that they saidat uni Hunter 52, Hunter Valley
, Stephen Hermitage.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well, look, that's it for us this week.
Next week we are going to belooking at I don't know if it's
been all over your socials andnews and everything but I'm
hearing a lot about the CastanetMurphy Awards and they've taken
all of their wine and tasted itall and they've come out with
the best of the best and we'relike, well, we'll see about that
(29:31):
, we're going to taste them.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, it'll be fun.
I mean, it is sub 50.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, seems like it.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
We're not drinking Barolo, but you know.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
We're not.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
It's all right.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
We'll see Next time.
Dan, do the good stuff and thensponsor this segment.
All right, we will see you nexttime.
Aren't we, I know, Do we seemreal like needy?
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
You love us.
This is the only chance we getto catch up.
If we didn't do the podcast, wewouldn't see each other, all
right.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I work at the Boccaccio, the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
It's actually kind of halfway into the morning.
Okay, are we going out fordinner Lunch, okay, great.
Okay, join next class of wine.
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