Hunter Valley success story

Press, 5 August 1988, Page 30

Hunter Valley success story

Wine

with Phillip Pye

I remember well the first time I shook hands with Brian McGuigan. There he was, tall, with jet-black tight, curly hair, dressed in traditional Australian-style squire garb; Hank Williams riding trousers, riding boots, a pin-striped shirt and neck scarf. It was a humid Hunter Valley January day and the Wyndham Estate Cellars at Dalwood were busy attending to the four coachloads of tourists that had merely popped up from Sydney for a Sunday drive. McGuigan, squire of “The Hunter,” was mingling with the visitors to his vineyard when I arrived, a practice I was to find, in years to follow, he insists on.

The mere presence of the man was charismatic. I had never met anybody with such a powerful, magnetic personality. Was this man for real? Did he really own half of the Hunter Valley? Did he really deliver truckloads of his wine on Sundays and did he really drive from Sydney to Melbourne and back again the same day to

speak at a dinner? The answer to all is “yes” and more.

McGuigan is, it seems, tireless when it comes to promotional activities for his group of vineyards and the Hunter Valley. Mind you, he has every reason to be tireless these days as he most certainly has enough vineyards, wineries and companies to keep an eye on. McGuigan now has the accolade-winning vineyards of Wyndham Estate, Hunter Estate, Elliotts Wines, Richmond Grove, Hollydene, Hermitage, Saxonvale Wines, Craigmoor Wines, Montrose Wines and Amberton Wines under his umbrella.

Calling McGuigan a success story is totally an understatement. McGuigan is the success story of the Australian wine industry. He turned a vineyard that Penfolds Australia believed had no future into a massive success, and his group of companies into the most profitable wine group in Australia. ' Such success has not eventuated through simply producing an ex-

cellent product. There are many factors, in particular effective marketing strategies, that have to be instituted to reap good retail sales. McGuigan spends a lot of money to ensure his product is visibly appealing and inviting to the consumer; in fact, I remember seeing a facsimile message some years ago that read, “Brian, this is the rough for the new Hunter Chardonnay. It is good, but expensive." McGuigan’s reply, scribbled on the bottom, was, “I don’t care how much it costs, as long as it is like the wine — excellent.”

The wines from Wyndham Estate and its associated labels are consistently great. The flagship wine in Australia is undoubtedly the Bin TR2 Traminer Riesling, which is in fact in the top 20selling Australian wines. The Wyndham range also has three cuvees, one made from Semilion, one from Rhine Riesling and another from Chardonnay. All three are made in the methode champenoise manner and are of exceptional quality for the money one pays for them, particularly the Semilion cuvee, which is full-flavoured and clean. There are three Chardonnays in the range, the Bin 222, which has very little time in oak, the oak cask Chardonnay, which has a few months in oak, and the Hunter Chardonnay, which is in fact the Chardonnay that Wyndham had only previously released for the American market. The consistently versatile styles that Wyndham produces from Semilion are well worth looking at, particularly the Bin 777 Graves Exceptional and the Chablis Superior.

The new-look variety for Wyndham Estate is Verdelho. Verdelho originally made the wonderful dessert wines from the Madeira Islands. The Australians often used it to make white port, but of late are making deliciously full-flavoured, tangy dry white wines from the variety. Try a bottle and form your own opinion.

The Wyndham red wines are consistent international medal and trophy winners. The Bin 444 Cabernet Sauvignon just seems to go round the world picking up awards, yet you can walk into 98 per cent of bottleshops in Australia and buy the same wine. The Bin 555 Hermitage is a perfect example of the delicate Burgundy styles that the Hunter Valley can produce from Shiraz.

The international marketplace is most certainly so important for Wyndham, in fact, it exported more than $lO million of its wine last year. Mind you, I suppose somebody has to show the world how good Australian wine is.