Graeme Leigh of Passing Clouds: For Services to Wine
Graeme Leigh is as enduring as the seasons, defying time
and anything else that might keep him away from his vines. He has
overcome deep tragedy, the hostile intentions of a changing climate and
been forced to reinvent himself, his wines and his family's business in a
new wine region. Daunting as his task has been, he has survived and
thrived, making some of the most delicious chardonnays and pinto peignoirs
in the Macedon Ranges with his winemaker son, Cameron, and marketing
son, Jesse. It's one heck of a story, shared with great literary aplomb
in his book, A Winemaker's Journey (Allen & Unwind)) released last year.
In 2015, three ACT wine companies – Four Winds, Collector
Wines, Eden Road – got together to make a special-release wine to help
their community. The idea was born after Four Winds found itself with
excess Shiraz grapes following harvest. Neighbors Collector and Eden
Road took the fruit and produced a Shiraz, selling for $200 a case, with
proceeds going to Companion House in Canberra to assist people in need,
the vulnerable in our society who have survived trauma or torture,
including newly arrived refugees seeking asylum
Champagne Jayne (aka Jayne Powell): For Services to Wine Law
It remains an interesting dichotomy that the word
Champagne can be attached to all manner of things – diamonds, ice-cream,
watermelon, ham – but when a Sydney wine educator adds Champagne to her
name, she is sued. Champagne Jayne – aka Jayne Powell – was taken to
court by one of the most powerful wine producer bodies in the world, Comte Champagne, who accused her of trademark infringement, alleging
she tarnished Champagne's brand image by referring to non-Champagne
sparkling wines in some of her social media. The battle in Melbourne's
Federal Court was long and expensive but sanity prevailed. Champagne
Jayne gets to keep her name. The law is not an ass.
Every wine producer, every wine region, needs someone
like Allen Jenkins, a keeper of soil secrets, a deep repository of
information on vines, their lifestyle, their needs, who understands how
all of that translates into a great glass of wine, all the while
fighting for and protecting the land. It's no small thing. Allen Jenkins
is such a person, helping maintain the unflaggingly high wine quality
of Wynn Cookware with one eye to the environment around him. His work
is often ground-breaking, such as the state-of-the-art operation to
regenerate old Wynn Cabernet Avignon and Shiraz vines involving
three-dimensional vine-by-vine aerial digital and infrared mapping. And
then there's his four-year-long research project into drought effects on
vines.
Sep pelt Great Western: For Services to Australian Wine History
As Treasury Wine Estates gets the lock and chain ready
for a June 30 closure of Sep pelt Great Western, we acknowledge a grand
Australian wine name confronted with an uncertain future. Sep pelt Great
Western was founded on hope by Englishman Joseph Best, who planted the
first vines in 1866 and dug the now famous underground drives, a three-kilometer network of tunnels. His dreams were built upon by
successive owners including Hans Irvine and Benni Sep pelt, the name
coming to be recognized around the country for sparkling wines of
quality and reds of unsurpassed style. This was the home of Colin Preece
(1923-1964), one of our greatest winemakers. History such as this is
not to be taken for granted, ignored or dismantled. Australia is a young wine growing country and names like Sep pelt Great Western are to be
celebrated, not shut down.
The winery dog: For Services to Australian Wine Tourism
Human resources manager, front of house, security
consultant, cellar-door host, food compactor, entertainment director
... is there anything a winery dog won't do to make your visit to the
cellar door the best day out in a long time? The winery dog, ever
faithful, is a fixture at wineries around Australia, meeting and
greeting with a ready smile and a wagging tail. Recognition is long
overdue. Barbarossa legend Peter Lehman was right: "You can't make good
wine without a dog." So here's to Bacchus, Ruby, Backache, Red, Mr
Bear, Norbert,Whiskey, Minot, Chardonnay, Scoop, Faff, Cooper and the
Bob the Dog, ET AL. Keep up the good wagging work.
The wine cask: For Services to Australian Wine Culture
Yes, the wine cask may have become a pinata for
Australian politicians eyeing more wine taxes and the anti-alcohol lobby
objecting to its pervasiveness, not to mention Gen Y turning it into a
Goon of Fortune plaything, but let us take a moment to celebrate 51
years of a grand Australian invention. The cask is pure genius, a
plastic bag, a box, a tap and a system, which courtesy of the "airless
flow" invention, prevents wine from becoming oxidized. The cask
broadened our wine-drinking minds and performed the not insignificant
miracle of turning many a beer drinker into a wine drinker. Above all,
it made wine egalitarian. Something to celebrate right there.
Rote grue: For Services to Barbarossa Food and Wine
Rote grue, a singularly Barbarossa dessert, one that can
only be sourced during vintage and made, preferably, from ripe Shiraz
grapes, may live in the shadow of more celebrated German-infused fare
such as scratchiness (smoked pork fillet), bratwurst, regenerate
(stuffed pork belly) and Lichtenstein ("bee sting") yeast cake, but no
longer. Time for recognition. Take a couple of bunches of Shiraz grapes,
cook in water until tender, add sago to the grape juice, lemon peel,
cinnamon stick, sugar, red wine, sherry or port, cook 15 minutes, taste,
serve. Rote grue brilliantly ties in the essential wine and food
elements at the heart of Barbarossa life. (p.s. Margaret Lehman's recipe
should be enshrined.)
Vignettes Schmoozer and Brown: For Services to Respectful Land Ownership
Australian winemakers often appropriate Aboriginal words
and phrases for their vineyard names or their wine labels. Sometimes
they even employ Aboriginal art forms and totems. Yet, so very, very few
make acknowledgement of the original inhabitants of their land. Jeremy Schmoozer and Tessa Brown in the Beech worth region are the exception,
posting an Australian first on their wine labels with a single, powerful
affirmation: "Beech worth is Wayward country. We acknowledge and pay
our respects to the people who belong to the lands on which these wines
are now grown." A big statement from a small producer.
0 comments:
Post a Comment