August 2, 2023 • 18 mins
Welcome back to the Served! podcast, Canberra's favourite foodies podcast!
On today's episode, Mick is joined by the Brown Brothers' very own Katherine Brown;
- How did it feel for Katherine to be the first female wine maker of the Brown family?
- Which wine is the toughest to make? IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!
- Mick notices a poster for a Brown Brothers x Messina collab in head office - and Katherine confirms that it's MAKING A RETURN!
- August is FILLED with International Wine Days - so Mick has asked Katherine what the best way is to celebrate each day to the fullest!
- July 25th was International Cheese and Wine Day - so Mick has decided to play a game with Katherine. What wines would SHE pair with the cheeses that Mick chooses?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Later.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Oh my goodness, the food looks and smells amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I have you hungry? This is this SAVES podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Hello and welcome back to Served, where we are serving
you up a ton of great foody suggestions. I'm your host,
Mick Carojuana. And if you're a new listener to the podcast,
well welcome, thank you for being here. If you're an
old listener of the podcast, then hey, thank you for
sticking around. You are an absolute superstar. If you are
an old listener of the show, though, you will know,
(00:29):
of course, my fascination with international food and drink days
an excuse basically to celebrate and indulge in said food
and or drink on their respective days. I am obsessed
with this so much so that I have all the
days written down in my diary so I don't miss them.
I do still miss them because I am a.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Mess, but hey, I do my best. And let me
tell you.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
The month of August is filled to the brim with
international days, most of them being wine. There are four
in total, International White Wine Day, International Prosecco Day, International
Pino Noir Day, and International Red Wine Day. So since
it's a big month for wine, I thought i'd get
a member of the Brown Brothers family to join me to.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Talk all about wine.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Catherine Brown is a fourth generation Brown family member and
the first female wine maker of the family. So she
will be our guide today in the wonderful world of wine,
from the best wines and her favorites, to the best
cheese and wine pairings, all the way to the Brown
Brothers collab with Messina to release ice cream flavored wine.
(01:39):
I didn't know that was a thing, and I'm glad
that I'm finding out about it now.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We cover it all and more on today's episode. Is Served.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So the month of August is a very busy time
for international food Days, but more importantly, it's Wine Day season.
I didn't know we had a season for it, but
I'm glad we do now. I'm not a huge wine connoisseur,
so if you ask me what my favorite sort of
wine is, I'll probably say white and then call it
a day because I'm still learning.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm still a young boy.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
But I thought it would be better to get someone
who knew a lot about wine and basically has wine
engulfing their life. Catherine Brown from the Brown Brothers down
in Victoria. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
For joining me pleasure.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I feel like you are definitely the perfect person to
actually get on for this because your family is just
wine central. Tell us a little about how your family
got into the Brown brothers.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Sure, so, I'm actually a fourth generation of the Brown
family who.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Have been making wine here on our site in Millowes.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So, Northeast Victoria for over one hundred and thirty four years.
So it was eighteen eighty nine that my great grandfather
decided to try his hand at essentially squashing up some
grapes and fermenting them and making wine. And it just
so happened that it was the perfect time we had
traders coming past this area. You know, gold rush was
happening at the time, so it was a big booming
(03:06):
time for Australia.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Oh yeah, and wine.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Wine just slotted in perfectly for all those people out
there that was sort of looking for something like that
at the time. And you can look at the different
generations of my family and how it's gone and it
really shows how wine is sort of fitted in with
the trends of people's lives, you know, what they've been doing,
and then all the way through to sort of like
you know, look at the eighties and nineties, which was
an amazing time for Australia for export, so we got
(03:32):
involved in export, especially to the UK.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
The English really fell in love with austra and wine.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Now you look Willia and now in like you know,
the twenty twenties, and it's myself. I've got two sisters
and cousins who are involved in the business and it's
such a pleasure to be making wine that we enjoy
ourselves and we get to share with other people out there.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's awesome to know that this just kind of how
your family has been set up for the past four generations,
was just because your great grandfather just went you know
what wine could be good, crushed up a few grapes.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And then but I being bitter, boom, now you're here.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
The wine is stree is amazing just with family legacies,
like we're part of the First Families of Wine, which
is a group of ten wineries across Australia that essentially
sort of have a similar story. So these are people
like the Tyrolls up in the Hunter Valley, the Perbricks
who have to build winery in the Gambi, the birch
Is over in Western Australia for example, and your Lumba like,
(04:27):
there's a large group. There's ten of us involved, and
we all have this similar story of these sort of
like ancestors that just had this idea to make wine
and we've managed to be able to keep it in
the family for generations.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Now, how did it feel for you personally becoming the
first female wine maker from the family.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
It's you probably don't realize your own achievements until you
sort of hear them in a bit of a bio
or a story like you just mentioned. But I'm proud
to keep the legacy going of the family, and I'm
proud that we're in a generation now that it can
be it doesn't matter what thought are you're born in
you if you're a female or male. I say that
(05:04):
in the way still in a lot of Europe that
you have to be the firstborn male to be able
to get the farm or the family property passed on
to you.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So we're in a really lovely time, a lovely era.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
You know, family members can come back to the business
and with welcome arms and for the opportunity to be
able to go study wine making and come back. And
I've now done seven vintages here a family business, and yeah,
and I'm so proud of the wines that I've made
in that time.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Which one is your favorite wine that you've made? Then
over the past few.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
There's a wine that's very close to my heart. It's
a great variety called Neira Diavla. It's an Italian great variety.
But in one of my first vintagers, I sort of
got sort of like when you're the rookie, the other
wine makers hand you sort of the varieties that they
sort of either haven't quite worked out, or they don't
really want to deal with themselves, or you end up
(05:58):
being the bottom feed you should get the reffraph. And
so I got this great variety that no one was
really quite into yet, and I was very passionate about
this wine and I ended up taking it through to
the Melbourne Wine Show and it won a trophy.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh wow, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
It was amazing.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
It shows that when you put a lot of passion
behind a passion project, it's amazing where you can take it.
But yeah, this near A Diavla was an absolutely amazing
wine and we're now making that wine as an ongoing thing.
So it was a really nice milestone to have.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It's like the Stephen Bradbury of wines. You didn't think
it was going to do well and then it walks.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Away with a metal Now.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I want to know because in my little intro I
said that I'm still learning to love wine.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I'm only twenty four.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
So when people start talking to me about wine and
they start describing the notes and everything like that, I'm
looking like a stun mullet, all right, because I prefer
white overred.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
And that's probably all I really know.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Was it hard for you to get into loving wine
or was it just something that is happened to pass
down as well through the family.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I think the great mantra we've always had here at
Brown Brothers is that we don't take ourselves too seriously.
We're not all about sort of making the big reds
or the show. They don't have to be show winning
wines or you know, we make great wines like Muscado.
The Brown Brothers Muscado is the biggest selling Australian white
(07:24):
wine in Australia.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Oh wow.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, So we really see ourselves as that great stepping stone.
But you know, you are like yourself, like you're sort
of wanting to learn about wine, you might think you
don't have the palette to go to something that's like
really tannic or really big, or you know, hail coal
or anything like that. So start with something like Muscado.
It's five percent our coal essentially tastes like crushed grapes
in your mouth, like it's a beautiful wine, and that
(07:49):
really sort of opens up the door to be able
to start learning about other wines, other great varieties, and
you know, move through and potentially you might end up
drinking heavy reds, but you might not. You might want
to stay at Mescado forever, or you might just enjoy
something like a prosecco, which is light and easy but
a bit drier.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I'm glad you have said that, because I think the
ioho and this is just me saying it from my age,
I feel like if you stick with Muscado, it you're
not opening yourself to be made fun of. But because
it is on the lower end of the wines, it's like, oh, well,
come on, drink something proper. But if you say that
I can just stick with Muscado my entire life, then
(08:28):
maybe I should open that door.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
And as I say, like we don't want to take
ourselves too seriously. But also when someone tells me that,
you know, mescado, that's not proper wine. As a wine maker,
muscado is one of the hardest wines to make, really,
so yeah, we have we have to take it muscado
very It's a moment when we do have to be
a bit serious. Something like making a pinot grigio. You
(08:50):
essentially put rape juice in a tank with some yeast
and just let nate to take its course. Yeah, and
you end up with a dry wine. With something like
a moscado, you really have to be monishor the ferment
and the interaction between the sugars in the grape juice,
the yeae, the temperature of the tank. It's the sort
of stuff that keeps you awake at night. So yeah,
(09:12):
any rookie wine maker can make a dry wine. To
make something that's like mescado that's got that beautiful sort
of fizzante, the soft flavors, the nice bit of sweetness
to it, is actually really difficult.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Wow, we learn something new every day, And I didn't
realize moscado was going to be a big talking point
for us today, But I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It has been.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I also before we do talk about the international days,
I just need to ask there is a poster behind
you right now that is a Brown Brothers and Messina collaboration.
Is that Please tell me a little bit about that
because I feel like mixing wine and ice cream is
a perfect combination.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
So this is something that we did for summer this year,
so early twenty twenty three, and we know that there's
some great fans out there of the Brown Brothers Muscado,
and we love listening to what our fans have to
say to us.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And from listening, we really learned that us cream is.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Also something that people love, so surprise, surprise, So bringing
the two together was an amazing collab.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's one of.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
The fastest selling lines we've ever seen through Cellar Door
cat Millower, we had pretty much people lining up at
the door and like Facebook groups created for people looking
for this strawberries and cream mescado from Bosina and Brown Brothers.
So in fantastic news in the lead up to summer
of twenty twenty four, we're releasing a whole new range
(10:47):
of flavors with Muscado.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So it's still still.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
In top secret, but if your listeners jump onto our
Instagram or our Facebook, they'll be updated with what flavors
we've got rolling out for the summer.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Okay, okay, So you can't give us any like sneak
peaks as to what flavors are coming through.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I can say there might be something to do with
a salted camera.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yes, oh that is fantastic to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So was it just the wines that you guys made
or did Messina make some ice cream that were kind
of the Moscado flavor?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
So we've also been working with them on a limited
release ice cream flavor. I've got a feeling that it
was only out for a very short period of time, right,
so people can go down look at the ice cream shops.
But I believe that there was a delicious I think
it was a prosecco rose.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Oh yes cream. Yeah, so there was a few things
happening there.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
But yeah, the flavors this summer are going to be
very focused around sort of yeah, fun flavors and delicious
wine of course.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And now I'm trying to think, and I feel like
it's not really my place to give you suggestions, but
maybe a cookies and cream could work.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I don't know if that in your pipeline, but.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I feel like a cookies and cream because that is
easily the best ice cream flavor.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I'm just putting it out there.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Yeah, we've as a business and as a family, we
really love listening to people's comments, and a lot of
our wines have come from people coming into Salador and
pretty much saying exactly what you said to us. We've
got a wine called Sienna, which is a fruity style
red and that really came out of people tasting wines
and Salador and being like, you know, I love red wine.
(12:27):
I want to be able to progress my way through
like from just whites, maybe I try a red, but
you know, I'd like a little bit sweetness.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So we have this.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Wine called Sienna, which is totally driven out of just
consumer comments. So please keep giving us ideas and I'll
put cookies and c cookies and.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Cream you want to it was cookies and cream that
would be wonderful.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Okay, I'll put on the list for next year.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yes, get in happy days.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Alrighty Now the moment we've been waiting for the International
Wine Days that are coming up in August, and Catherine,
there are a lot of them if we look in
August or on Friday the fourth, it is International White
Wine Day. On Sunday the thirteenth, it's International Prosecco Day.
Friday the eighteenth International Pino and Wie Day, and then
the twenty eighth of August is International Red Wine Day.
(13:17):
That is on a Monday, which is a bad day
to have an International Wine Day.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
But I don't make the days.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
So I think the big question is you, being a
wine connoisseur the first one, will you be celebrating all
the days, both you personally and Brown Brothers.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I celebrate every day as a wine day.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Great response, and I.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Think it's lovely that these great varieties get their special day.
It's sort of like having a birthday, or in France
they celebrate name days.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Which I think is a really nice way to do
it as well. Yeah, having these.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Varietal days really just highlights I think for people to
maybe try something different on those days. If you normally
only drink chardeney and prosecco days, on the thirteenth, hey
go down and get yourself some prosecco.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Try it out. That idea of just exploring new things.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, exactly, And it is celebrating so you don't feel
any guilt in doing it. That's the way I normally
treat international food days. So how would you suggest all
these served listeners celebrate these International wine days with any
of the Brown Brothers wine.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Well, you've got such a good variety of different days
to celebrate. Of course, having the white Wine Day very broad, yep,
very bad. But I think something fun you could do
is go and pick up notes three different white wines,
maybe like a Moscado, a Pinogriggio, a Chardeney, and you
could actually try those three wines.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Next to each other, and oh and.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Start thinking about like the different flavors and smells in
those wines. Like that's a really good way to if
you wanted to learn about wine, to be able to
do that little sort of like wine tasting between yourself
and whoever you're having dinner with that night, discuss the flavors.
There's no right and wrong in tasting wine and the
aromas and taste to get out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So that could be pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Prosecco Day definitely one of my favorite days of the year.
Here at Brown Brothers, we're very passionate about echo. We
actually have a prosecco rose. Oh yeah, normal white prosecco.
For those that aren't into drinking alcohol, we also have
a prosecco zero, So it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Doesn't matter what day of the week Proscco Day falls on.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
You can still drink your favorite prosecco and you don't
have to worry about the next day being able to
drive all those.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Sort of things.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, smart thinking, And like you said, every day is
wine day for you, so you know, having those through
those few non alcoholic versions is probably the best way
to break it all up. Now, there is another day
that I want to talk to you about. It is
(15:39):
actually a time of recording. It is tomorrow. It is
the twenty fifth of July. It is International Wine and
Cheese Day, which is fantastic that it gets its own day.
But I feel like the problem is that you don't
know which cheeses to match with which wines you know,
and you don't want to go and you buy your
wine in your cheese, and then you go, well, this
is just the worst pairing, you know. So that's why
(16:00):
I've got a little game for you, Catherine. I've got
a few cheeses, I go a few cheeses. I'm gonna
throw a cheese at you, not literally, thankfully, because we're
doing this via zoom, but I'm gonna throw a cheese
at you and you suggest which wine.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You would pair with it.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Great, this sounds fun alright?
Speaker 3 (16:17):
First up, I'm gonna start with my favorite cheese, a Bree.
What would you match with a bree cheese?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I'm gonna go prosecco.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Okay, what if if someone was after a wine to
match with a goat's cheese?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
That would definitely be the Charney Shady party. Okay, what
about an age cheddar?
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Now we're moving into breads, I think okay, I reckon
you tried it a cabinet with your age cheddar.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Oh that this seems a bit more fancy, but that's okay,
because that's what this whole game is about.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
We're learning. Okay, what about what about a gooda Ooh.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I would have to say, let's go back to white,
So I think you need a Pinot Grissio.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
To go with that and the other one I've gotten here.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
What about I was gonna say camembert, but I feel
like camembert and brie basically the same, so you don't
want to mix that up?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
What about like a gray air sort of cheese, still back.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
In the white spectrum.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
So I think that nearly like around an elb Orino,
we do have an amazing selad all that.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Would go beautifully with it, righty, Okay, I feel like
I've covered a lot of water.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I'm gonna throw a big one.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Back at you, Oh dear.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Okay, blue cheese, stinky blue.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yes, I was thinking about throwing up a stinky blue,
but I'm not, and I should have. I should have
done it because I'm not a stinky blue fan. But
if you okay, if someone was to have a blue cheese,
are they going down the red or the white path?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
This is where you go into something a bit sweet? Okay,
stinky blue.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Goes really great with a dessert one really a noble,
noble reasoning.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Maybe you like a fortified.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Is it to mask the smell or is it to
compliment the smell?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
It compliments it all?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Really?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Oh yeah, well that's good to know that there is
hope out there for the stinky cheese. What about Oh no,
this is probably okay, a baby bell. If someone wanted
to have a baby bell cheese and a little wine,
what would you think?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I recommend that's definitely a moscado moment.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Oh now see, Oh okay, fine, I know how I'm
celebrating a baby bell and a moscado, and then my
wine life has just opened up entirely.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's perfect. And I'll sit back with my stinky blue
and my noble reasoning and.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
We'll celebrate together, just in different parts of Australia. I
love the sound of that, The joy of zoom.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
You'll never have to smell my cheese.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Catherine.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk
us through all the different sort of wines and your
family history as well.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
It has been awesome chatting to you.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It's been lots of fun. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Well that's it. You filled up on all the food content.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
You could still a little peckish.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Check out other episodes or follow our Instagram page serves
Double Underscore Podcast
Later.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Oh my goodness, the food looks and smells amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I have you hungry? This is this SAVES podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Hello and welcome back to Served, where we are serving
you up a ton of great foody suggestions. I'm your host,
Mick Carojuana. And if you're a new listener to the podcast,
well welcome, thank you for being here. If you're an
old listener of the podcast, then hey, thank you for
sticking around. You are an absolute superstar. If you are
an old listener of the show, though, you will know,
(00:29):
of course, my fascination with international food and drink days
an excuse basically to celebrate and indulge in said food
and or drink on their respective days. I am obsessed
with this so much so that I have all the
days written down in my diary so I don't miss them.
I do still miss them because I am a.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Mess, but hey, I do my best. And let me
tell you.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
The month of August is filled to the brim with
international days, most of them being wine. There are four
in total, International White Wine Day, International Prosecco Day, International
Pino Noir Day, and International Red Wine Day. So since
it's a big month for wine, I thought i'd get
a member of the Brown Brothers family to join me to.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Talk all about wine.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Catherine Brown is a fourth generation Brown family member and
the first female wine maker of the family. So she
will be our guide today in the wonderful world of wine,
from the best wines and her favorites, to the best
cheese and wine pairings, all the way to the Brown
Brothers collab with Messina to release ice cream flavored wine.
(01:39):
I didn't know that was a thing, and I'm glad
that I'm finding out about it now.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We cover it all and more on today's episode. Is Served.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So the month of August is a very busy time
for international food Days, but more importantly, it's Wine Day season.
I didn't know we had a season for it, but
I'm glad we do now. I'm not a huge wine connoisseur,
so if you ask me what my favorite sort of
wine is, I'll probably say white and then call it
a day because I'm still learning.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm still a young boy.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
But I thought it would be better to get someone
who knew a lot about wine and basically has wine
engulfing their life. Catherine Brown from the Brown Brothers down
in Victoria. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
For joining me pleasure.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I feel like you are definitely the perfect person to
actually get on for this because your family is just
wine central. Tell us a little about how your family
got into the Brown brothers.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Sure, so, I'm actually a fourth generation of the Brown
family who.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Have been making wine here on our site in Millowes.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So, Northeast Victoria for over one hundred and thirty four years.
So it was eighteen eighty nine that my great grandfather
decided to try his hand at essentially squashing up some
grapes and fermenting them and making wine. And it just
so happened that it was the perfect time we had
traders coming past this area. You know, gold rush was
happening at the time, so it was a big booming
(03:06):
time for Australia.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Oh yeah, and wine.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Wine just slotted in perfectly for all those people out
there that was sort of looking for something like that
at the time. And you can look at the different
generations of my family and how it's gone and it
really shows how wine is sort of fitted in with
the trends of people's lives, you know, what they've been doing,
and then all the way through to sort of like
you know, look at the eighties and nineties, which was
an amazing time for Australia for export, so we got
(03:32):
involved in export, especially to the UK.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
The English really fell in love with austra and wine.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Now you look Willia and now in like you know,
the twenty twenties, and it's myself. I've got two sisters
and cousins who are involved in the business and it's
such a pleasure to be making wine that we enjoy
ourselves and we get to share with other people out there.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's awesome to know that this just kind of how
your family has been set up for the past four generations,
was just because your great grandfather just went you know
what wine could be good, crushed up a few grapes.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And then but I being bitter, boom, now you're here.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
The wine is stree is amazing just with family legacies,
like we're part of the First Families of Wine, which
is a group of ten wineries across Australia that essentially
sort of have a similar story. So these are people
like the Tyrolls up in the Hunter Valley, the Perbricks
who have to build winery in the Gambi, the birch
Is over in Western Australia for example, and your Lumba like,
(04:27):
there's a large group. There's ten of us involved, and
we all have this similar story of these sort of
like ancestors that just had this idea to make wine
and we've managed to be able to keep it in
the family for generations.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Now, how did it feel for you personally becoming the
first female wine maker from the family.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
It's you probably don't realize your own achievements until you
sort of hear them in a bit of a bio
or a story like you just mentioned. But I'm proud
to keep the legacy going of the family, and I'm
proud that we're in a generation now that it can
be it doesn't matter what thought are you're born in
you if you're a female or male. I say that
(05:04):
in the way still in a lot of Europe that
you have to be the firstborn male to be able
to get the farm or the family property passed on
to you.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So we're in a really lovely time, a lovely era.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
You know, family members can come back to the business
and with welcome arms and for the opportunity to be
able to go study wine making and come back. And
I've now done seven vintages here a family business, and yeah,
and I'm so proud of the wines that I've made
in that time.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Which one is your favorite wine that you've made? Then
over the past few.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
There's a wine that's very close to my heart. It's
a great variety called Neira Diavla. It's an Italian great variety.
But in one of my first vintagers, I sort of
got sort of like when you're the rookie, the other
wine makers hand you sort of the varieties that they
sort of either haven't quite worked out, or they don't
really want to deal with themselves, or you end up
(05:58):
being the bottom feed you should get the reffraph. And
so I got this great variety that no one was
really quite into yet, and I was very passionate about
this wine and I ended up taking it through to
the Melbourne Wine Show and it won a trophy.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh wow, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
It was amazing.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
It shows that when you put a lot of passion
behind a passion project, it's amazing where you can take it.
But yeah, this near A Diavla was an absolutely amazing
wine and we're now making that wine as an ongoing thing.
So it was a really nice milestone to have.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It's like the Stephen Bradbury of wines. You didn't think
it was going to do well and then it walks.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Away with a metal Now.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I want to know because in my little intro I
said that I'm still learning to love wine.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I'm only twenty four.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
So when people start talking to me about wine and
they start describing the notes and everything like that, I'm
looking like a stun mullet, all right, because I prefer
white overred.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
And that's probably all I really know.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Was it hard for you to get into loving wine
or was it just something that is happened to pass
down as well through the family.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I think the great mantra we've always had here at
Brown Brothers is that we don't take ourselves too seriously.
We're not all about sort of making the big reds
or the show. They don't have to be show winning
wines or you know, we make great wines like Muscado.
The Brown Brothers Muscado is the biggest selling Australian white
(07:24):
wine in Australia.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Oh wow.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, So we really see ourselves as that great stepping stone.
But you know, you are like yourself, like you're sort
of wanting to learn about wine, you might think you
don't have the palette to go to something that's like
really tannic or really big, or you know, hail coal
or anything like that. So start with something like Muscado.
It's five percent our coal essentially tastes like crushed grapes
in your mouth, like it's a beautiful wine, and that
(07:49):
really sort of opens up the door to be able
to start learning about other wines, other great varieties, and
you know, move through and potentially you might end up
drinking heavy reds, but you might not. You might want
to stay at Mescado forever, or you might just enjoy
something like a prosecco, which is light and easy but
a bit drier.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I'm glad you have said that, because I think the
ioho and this is just me saying it from my age,
I feel like if you stick with Muscado, it you're
not opening yourself to be made fun of. But because
it is on the lower end of the wines, it's like, oh, well,
come on, drink something proper. But if you say that
I can just stick with Muscado my entire life, then
(08:28):
maybe I should open that door.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
And as I say, like we don't want to take
ourselves too seriously. But also when someone tells me that,
you know, mescado, that's not proper wine. As a wine maker,
muscado is one of the hardest wines to make, really,
so yeah, we have we have to take it muscado
very It's a moment when we do have to be
a bit serious. Something like making a pinot grigio. You
(08:50):
essentially put rape juice in a tank with some yeast
and just let nate to take its course. Yeah, and
you end up with a dry wine. With something like
a moscado, you really have to be monishor the ferment
and the interaction between the sugars in the grape juice,
the yeae, the temperature of the tank. It's the sort
of stuff that keeps you awake at night. So yeah,
(09:12):
any rookie wine maker can make a dry wine. To
make something that's like mescado that's got that beautiful sort
of fizzante, the soft flavors, the nice bit of sweetness
to it, is actually really difficult.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Wow, we learn something new every day, And I didn't
realize moscado was going to be a big talking point
for us today, But I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It has been.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I also before we do talk about the international days,
I just need to ask there is a poster behind
you right now that is a Brown Brothers and Messina collaboration.
Is that Please tell me a little bit about that
because I feel like mixing wine and ice cream is
a perfect combination.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
So this is something that we did for summer this year,
so early twenty twenty three, and we know that there's
some great fans out there of the Brown Brothers Muscado,
and we love listening to what our fans have to
say to us.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And from listening, we really learned that us cream is.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Also something that people love, so surprise, surprise, So bringing
the two together was an amazing collab.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's one of.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
The fastest selling lines we've ever seen through Cellar Door
cat Millower, we had pretty much people lining up at
the door and like Facebook groups created for people looking
for this strawberries and cream mescado from Bosina and Brown Brothers.
So in fantastic news in the lead up to summer
of twenty twenty four, we're releasing a whole new range
(10:47):
of flavors with Muscado.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So it's still still.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
In top secret, but if your listeners jump onto our
Instagram or our Facebook, they'll be updated with what flavors
we've got rolling out for the summer.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Okay, okay, So you can't give us any like sneak
peaks as to what flavors are coming through.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I can say there might be something to do with
a salted camera.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yes, oh that is fantastic to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So was it just the wines that you guys made
or did Messina make some ice cream that were kind
of the Moscado flavor?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
So we've also been working with them on a limited
release ice cream flavor. I've got a feeling that it
was only out for a very short period of time, right,
so people can go down look at the ice cream shops.
But I believe that there was a delicious I think
it was a prosecco rose.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Oh yes cream. Yeah, so there was a few things
happening there.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
But yeah, the flavors this summer are going to be
very focused around sort of yeah, fun flavors and delicious
wine of course.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And now I'm trying to think, and I feel like
it's not really my place to give you suggestions, but
maybe a cookies and cream could work.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I don't know if that in your pipeline, but.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I feel like a cookies and cream because that is
easily the best ice cream flavor.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I'm just putting it out there.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Yeah, we've as a business and as a family, we
really love listening to people's comments, and a lot of
our wines have come from people coming into Salador and
pretty much saying exactly what you said to us. We've
got a wine called Sienna, which is a fruity style
red and that really came out of people tasting wines
and Salador and being like, you know, I love red wine.
(12:27):
I want to be able to progress my way through
like from just whites, maybe I try a red, but
you know, I'd like a little bit sweetness.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So we have this.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Wine called Sienna, which is totally driven out of just
consumer comments. So please keep giving us ideas and I'll
put cookies and c cookies and.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Cream you want to it was cookies and cream that
would be wonderful.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Okay, I'll put on the list for next year.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yes, get in happy days.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Alrighty Now the moment we've been waiting for the International
Wine Days that are coming up in August, and Catherine,
there are a lot of them if we look in
August or on Friday the fourth, it is International White
Wine Day. On Sunday the thirteenth, it's International Prosecco Day.
Friday the eighteenth International Pino and Wie Day, and then
the twenty eighth of August is International Red Wine Day.
(13:17):
That is on a Monday, which is a bad day
to have an International Wine Day.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
But I don't make the days.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
So I think the big question is you, being a
wine connoisseur the first one, will you be celebrating all
the days, both you personally and Brown Brothers.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I celebrate every day as a wine day.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Great response, and I.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Think it's lovely that these great varieties get their special day.
It's sort of like having a birthday, or in France
they celebrate name days.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Which I think is a really nice way to do
it as well. Yeah, having these.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Varietal days really just highlights I think for people to
maybe try something different on those days. If you normally
only drink chardeney and prosecco days, on the thirteenth, hey
go down and get yourself some prosecco.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Try it out. That idea of just exploring new things.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, exactly, And it is celebrating so you don't feel
any guilt in doing it. That's the way I normally
treat international food days. So how would you suggest all
these served listeners celebrate these International wine days with any
of the Brown Brothers wine.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Well, you've got such a good variety of different days
to celebrate. Of course, having the white Wine Day very broad, yep,
very bad. But I think something fun you could do
is go and pick up notes three different white wines,
maybe like a Moscado, a Pinogriggio, a Chardeney, and you
could actually try those three wines.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Next to each other, and oh and.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Start thinking about like the different flavors and smells in
those wines. Like that's a really good way to if
you wanted to learn about wine, to be able to
do that little sort of like wine tasting between yourself
and whoever you're having dinner with that night, discuss the flavors.
There's no right and wrong in tasting wine and the
aromas and taste to get out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So that could be pretty fun.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Prosecco Day definitely one of my favorite days of the year.
Here at Brown Brothers, we're very passionate about echo. We
actually have a prosecco rose. Oh yeah, normal white prosecco.
For those that aren't into drinking alcohol, we also have
a prosecco zero, So it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Doesn't matter what day of the week Proscco Day falls on.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
You can still drink your favorite prosecco and you don't
have to worry about the next day being able to
drive all those.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Sort of things.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, smart thinking, And like you said, every day is
wine day for you, so you know, having those through
those few non alcoholic versions is probably the best way
to break it all up. Now, there is another day
that I want to talk to you about. It is
(15:39):
actually a time of recording. It is tomorrow. It is
the twenty fifth of July. It is International Wine and
Cheese Day, which is fantastic that it gets its own day.
But I feel like the problem is that you don't
know which cheeses to match with which wines you know,
and you don't want to go and you buy your
wine in your cheese, and then you go, well, this
is just the worst pairing, you know. So that's why
(16:00):
I've got a little game for you, Catherine. I've got
a few cheeses, I go a few cheeses. I'm gonna
throw a cheese at you, not literally, thankfully, because we're
doing this via zoom, but I'm gonna throw a cheese
at you and you suggest which wine.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You would pair with it.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Great, this sounds fun alright?
Speaker 3 (16:17):
First up, I'm gonna start with my favorite cheese, a Bree.
What would you match with a bree cheese?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I'm gonna go prosecco.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Okay, what if if someone was after a wine to
match with a goat's cheese?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
That would definitely be the Charney Shady party. Okay, what
about an age cheddar?
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Now we're moving into breads, I think okay, I reckon
you tried it a cabinet with your age cheddar.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Oh that this seems a bit more fancy, but that's okay,
because that's what this whole game is about.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
We're learning. Okay, what about what about a gooda Ooh.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I would have to say, let's go back to white,
So I think you need a Pinot Grissio.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
To go with that and the other one I've gotten here.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
What about I was gonna say camembert, but I feel
like camembert and brie basically the same, so you don't
want to mix that up?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
What about like a gray air sort of cheese, still back.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
In the white spectrum.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
So I think that nearly like around an elb Orino,
we do have an amazing selad all that.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Would go beautifully with it, righty, Okay, I feel like
I've covered a lot of water.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I'm gonna throw a big one.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Back at you, Oh dear.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Okay, blue cheese, stinky blue.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yes, I was thinking about throwing up a stinky blue,
but I'm not, and I should have. I should have
done it because I'm not a stinky blue fan. But
if you okay, if someone was to have a blue cheese,
are they going down the red or the white path?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
This is where you go into something a bit sweet? Okay,
stinky blue.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Goes really great with a dessert one really a noble,
noble reasoning.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Maybe you like a fortified.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Is it to mask the smell or is it to
compliment the smell?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
It compliments it all?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Really?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Oh yeah, well that's good to know that there is
hope out there for the stinky cheese. What about Oh no,
this is probably okay, a baby bell. If someone wanted
to have a baby bell cheese and a little wine,
what would you think?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I recommend that's definitely a moscado moment.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Oh now see, Oh okay, fine, I know how I'm
celebrating a baby bell and a moscado, and then my
wine life has just opened up entirely.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's perfect. And I'll sit back with my stinky blue
and my noble reasoning and.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
We'll celebrate together, just in different parts of Australia. I
love the sound of that, The joy of zoom.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
You'll never have to smell my cheese.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Catherine.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk
us through all the different sort of wines and your
family history as well.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
It has been awesome chatting to you.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It's been lots of fun. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Well that's it. You filled up on all the food content.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
You could still a little peckish.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Check out other episodes or follow our Instagram page serves
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