Wine News: Endeavour Sells Wineries As The Aussie Wine Industry Hits A New Normal

We jump from rare Grenache by the glass to the bleak reality of industry restructuring, and ask what keeps wine alive when the money and the politics turn cold. Along the way, we dig into Endeavour’s winery sell-off, a federal budget that leaves wine behind, and the real vineyard trade-offs behind water use and dry farming.

It's not all doom and gloom as Producer Austin spent the week discovering what "wellies" are and we thank Handpicked for bringing a bit of wine romance back into our lives.

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Transcript

Welcome And Last Week’s Debrief

0:09

Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Malwiki to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Melville History of Master of Wine, Meg Rutman, and we have Producer Austin in the room. This week we have another wine news. But I wanted to just start by like reflecting on the conversation that we had with Brendan from Bottle Shock last week. If you listened, like it was a lot. It was like a highbrow episode. It was like a nerdy episode. But Meg, you went in and like originally when we spoke about this, you had a couple of critiques of his point of view. I think the thing that I was discussing was that there was a difference between the water levels. So it's almost double in Switeland compared to the Riverland. And also the Riverland just was producing way more. But I think he clarified really well that what he was talking about only really applies to a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of the Riverland, sort of converting this to the well, recognizing the old vine status and making really high priced, high-quality wines. It's only a small portion. So it's not a fix, as he I think said. Yes. It is it is a a shift in mentality to this, it can be a region that could produce some fantastic, you know, high-end wines. Yep. And someone let why doesn't someone do it? Which I think is really fantastic. That someone, you know, takes it, takes the mantle and says, Yeah, let's give it a go. It's going to cost money, but let's give it a go. But we still have a massive infrastructural issue with the way grapes are grown in the warm inland regions. He was a fascinating dude to Dolphin. Super intelligent. Oh my gosh. And you two have gone at a million metres per hour. Yeah, could I I could barely keep up? I was like You kept going, hang on, stop, because we were just going off pissed as is our once. And Mel's like, hang on, this is what we need to cover. We need to give background. Come on. I did listen to it, and it was a long episode, but it was an entertaining. I thought it was really entertaining. Yeah, I think, and I just think like our nerds, we we have some beginners that like we we cover a really nice spectrum of of wine people, and this one I think is a good one for the nerds. The thing I loved about it, it just uh it shows the the wine industry is so full of these passionate people, and that's the thing I love about the industry. There's no one working in it to make money. Oh god, like he was oozing passion. They then they're not in it to, you know, because they're gonna earn a quarter of a million dollars or five hundred thousand dollars a year. They're just they're just not, and so they do it for the absolute love. I I did say to him, I think at lunch afterwards I was like like you are like who I would be if I actually followed through on every crazy thought. Like he's in Paris at the moment, I think recreating the judgment of Paris just because how fun. What? But no, so it was a really good chat, and huge thank you for Brennan to for coming on and having a chat because it was such a great topic. And he's got heaps of YouTube videos that are actually really cool to explore as well. Next thing that I wanted to chat about was our Coravin dinner. So Coravin invited us to Rain and LaRue. And Meg,

Coravin Dinner And Château Rayas

3:31

what did we drink? We drank Chateau Reyes. Well, the Chateau Reyes has four estates, so we sh drank Chateau Reyes. But why is Chateau Reyes a big deal? Chateau Reyes is one of the most highly recognised, if not the most highly recognised, 100% Grenache wine. So it's in uh Southern Rhone in Chateauneuf de Pape. And as you know, in Chateau Neuf de Pape you can make a range of wines. So there's I think 13 different varieties. I used to know what they were, that were allowed to go into Chateauneuf de Pape, but they focus on 100% Grenache. So we had a range of wines, Chateau de la Tour, which was their sort of it's it's in Vacaris, which is not in Chateauneuf de Pape. We had a rose from them, we had the Chateau Reas wine, so we had three vintages of Chateau Reas, but the one that I found most interesting was the fonsaleta, I think it's called. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whites, the Grenaches. Fonsalade or something. Fruit I and I and I do you know why I know? Because I thought at one point that one of the corsives was was gonna be fruit salad. And then I realized that they were talking about whatever it was that sounded like fruit salad. But the funniest thing was that you know the deal is with these things, is like, oh, do you want to go along? Like, clearly they're promoting it, so we're put something on Instagram. And I was like, How far can I push this MW to do ridiculous things? And I I basically sent Meg a storyboard. In the end, I sent it to her son because and just was like, because thank God you were like, Elliot's coming over tomorrow. I was like, Oh good, Elliot can deal with this. Elliot was more embarrassed than me, I think. This is so funny. I was like, Yeah, how ridiculous can I go here? And the joke was like how we prepare for like a really fancy dinner, and Meg's like tapping her MW bag. Which I didn't I had to find it. It's actually gold. I think I got it, I got you. I didn't bring it in. I got you to kiss your certificate. I can't believe you actually kissed your oh my god, Dad. Yeah, I'm doing my and my warm-ups were like ridiculous, like googling what the menu was and and I I don't Google menus before I go to restaurants. I like that surprise. I mean, we were so ridiculously spoilt, and I felt awful. We just overindulged early and then got to this amazing 98-point wagyu uh hanger steak that was just like eating butter with burnay sauce, sauce et poivre, all the mustards, and we left some. And we also left we had a confit decanna, so the confit of duck and a magre, which is the breast cooked with the fat on top, the magra decanna, plus the fries. So so so the way to go is would you like marsh or fries? And Meg was like, look daddy, I'm like had seven heads. I love it. Of course, fries, fries, I want fries. Like she's making a big deal about these fries. So he goes and tells the kitchen about the fries, and they brought out the biggest bowl of fries I've ever had. We ate about five of them. And there was like six waiters all came out to watch them deliver these fries, and they're all laughing. Oh my god, it's like the fanciest restaurant I've ever been in. Then you ate dessert. Yeah, dude, of course. Dessert doesn't count. Mel had a Paris Brest. Yeah, I've never had it. It's named after Paris, Paris. Brest is a town. That's the last stage of the Tour de France. And it's shaped like a bicycle wheel. It is a beautiful, beautiful pastry. And it was, oh my god, that they had like a quinelle of uh custody yogurt, like with toffee just piped over it. That was incredible because it was really salty. Oh my the restaurant like Rain on the Rue, it's in the old stock exchange, the old Melbourne stock exchange, and all the stained glass windows are of the trades that were in Melbourne at the time, and it is a stunningly beautiful building. If you go, it is a treat. But I was saying with the Shadow Reyes. Yeah, so the the point is that normally they couldn't offer wines like this, but they can because of Coravir. And there's a special needle for these older bottles. Oh god. Go on. So there's a needle for old vintage wines where they know the cork's going to be a little bit softer, it's thinner and it pours it out more slowly, which I didn't know. I mean, obviously they sell that to professionals, but the thing is, Rain and Arux is going to continue on with these sorts of dinners, offering these special bottles until they run out, because it's literally how it works. They had three bottles of some of them. Yeah. Once they run out, that's it. They're no longer on offer. So I would recommend saving your pennies and just going in and ordering a steak fries, but getting the wines. They range between $27 for a 30 mil pour to $140 for a 30-mil pour. Is it a 50 mil pour? Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't 30 mil. I don't know. It was enough. It was, yeah. I mean, we had glasses lined up. Spiegel our universal wine glasses. Oh my god, that was so funny when you picked that. Now I'm just obsessed. But yeah, like I I think that's the thing that it like, you know, clearly we're grateful for the experience. So we're, you know, thank you, Coravin. But in in a really genuine way, it has like revolutionized how you can taste wine that you you might not have ever been able to afford three thousand dollars to buy one of these bottles. But you can go somewhere like that. And if you can afford $120, and of course it's a lot, but if you're like a super, super keen person and you've got to get these wines. They're on allocation. If it means you can taste something that you've wanted to your whole life for $100 instead of a few thousand, then it's pretty awesome. Well, I, you know, apartment number six. Oh, yeah, we do. Our friends, shout out. I think Megan posted that it was the most amazing thing she'd ever tasted. She so she has either bought a bottle, I wasn't clear how it worked, but she had the Shadow Rest, I think 2013. So yeah, I follow through. Circle's another one. Um just off Punch Lane's 100 by the Glass. Yeah, yeah, they're great. We love them there. Okay, let's get into wine news. So we have three headline stories this week. We are going to be talking about endeavors.

Setting Up The Wine News

10:07

So this literally just happened because we only record this once a month. Sometimes we're a bit behind, but we are on top of this news. Yeah, our phones went. So we're gonna talk about Endeavor, what's happening there with offloading winery assets. We have the federal budget. Meg is going to explain what why it matters or what's going on there. And then I've got some questions around like climate and California and water and dry farming and what that means. And is it possible? So actually, and then we have like something a bit more fun and lighthearted at the end, which is talking about hand-picked. I've got something in here about like commercial realities versus the romance of wine. And and are we striking that balance as an industry? So, first, let's get into it. Oh my god, Endeavor. Okay, so do you want to frame it? What's that? Okay, all right. So Endeavor announced yesterday. Day before.

Endeavour Offloads Winery Assets

11:03

Yeah, so they so they started as retailer, big retailer. In fact, they started as multiple and then they merged. I think BWS used to be separate, right? Yeah, yeah. So Endeavor is Dan Murphy's BWS. There's another one. So Thirsty Camels under the oh and no, Thirsty Camels IGA, but Langtons, of course. Langdon's. So the And Pinnacle Group. So they that's the importer producers of wine. But they started as just retailers. I think that's that's the key thing, is that they were retail and then they thought maybe there's something else in the bigger supply chain. And Pinnacle is the part of the of them that they created. Basically, think of it as home brand. It's the same thing as if you go into a store and get Wooly's version of something. Yes. There has been controversy in the past because their home brand doesn't look like home brand, so consumers don't know if but but there's that's kind of being sorted out at the moment. There they are coming along this journey and saying, Yeah, okay, we're we're gonna make it a bit more obvious, whatever. But along the way, they started doing more, they started buying wineries and vineyards and and in the premium sector too. Premium, and like I think surely most notably was Oak Ridge. So when Woolworths took over Cellarmasters, which was uh an online company, but they produced wine and they had a big pr produced production facility in Dorian estate in Nuriupta in the Brossa. So when Cellarmasters uh were bought out by the Woolworths group and Brad Banducci became the the head of Woolworths and he was the head of Cellarmasters, they got a wine production facility, which is a facility where they could produce those more own label cheaper wines, but then they started acquiring more expensive and premium wineries, so Chapel Hill, Oak Ridge, Joseph Cromie, most recently Cape Mentel, Isabel Estate in New Zealand. So they were working in that sort of premium premium sector, and I wanted on the record that I did say to you last year, they'll be out of it in five years. You did you said it like so assuredly, and then you sent it, you emailed when it broke yesterday. You emailed it. I told you. You said I told you so, but I went, I was sitting with Tom and I just went, Oh, holy shit, she was right. And it happened even quicker. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's probably five years from when they sort of started. So probably a bit longer than that. But they don't actually have buyers yet, right? They just they just kind of went out and said there's heaps of things we want to sell off. So it's $300 million in winery and vineyard assets. Yeah, wow. So it's not necessarily all of it, they're keeping some brands, but they're selling vineyards and bottling plants and yeah. I think is it so is it all of the brands that they're keeping? They're keeping Cape Mentel and Isabella State, from what I can understand. Oak Ridge is being sold as a brand and a winery and selling that as a brand, too. Joseph Cromie, it was interesting. Uh so I can't make it clear. I think they own the brand, but they said they're not extending the lease. So I'm assuming that they were probably leasing the winery slash vineyards. Um Chapel Hill brand and everything going. Uh Shuttles Book, they shut the seller door in it's in McLarenville last year, remember, or earlier this year. So that's gone. Yeah, so but it's interesting. Who's going to buy it? Who's gonna buy? That's what I was thinking. Can Vinicky is there, are there commercial legal they can't own as much as they can, can they? Like at what point can Vineke stop buying? Yeah, well, the ACCC would get involved, but also I would have thought that the ACC would have been involved with Endeavour's acquisition of vineyards and wineries because of the vertical integration of the industry. So they basically own from vineyard to retail store, which puts them in a competitive advantage to anyone else. But that didn't happen, so who knows? Like, how come it didn't work? So it should have put them at a competitive advantage. Yeah, vertical integration of the industry. So we're talking about instead of just being a retailer, they're doing everything from growing and blah, blah, blah. Like, how can you own the winery and be the biggest player responsible for whether or not it will work in retail? It should have been a successful model. So, how come you picked that it wouldn't be? Because it's bloody expensive to produce wine and it is a long-term project. You don't see that turnaround really, really quickly. You know, when private equity firms come in, they think they can flip it really quickly and they can sell it off. We saw it with accolade. It took for years and years and years and years and years for accolade to actually make a profit on it. It is uh, you know, it's not a loss-making business, but it is a slow burn. And these companies, I mean, they they're in FMCG, they just want it to be fast moving to say quite a lot. They just want the baked beans and the coffee out the door. And it's been interesting. We've been discussing, you know, I've been saying to you, Dan's, you used to be able to buy all these really interesting wines, the Belladon, Pickpool. They're not bringing in the new vintages. You know, it's it's 23 now, and they're obviously moving. I think I'm getting a feeling just by looking at what's happening on the shelf, moving out of that premium space. I think they'll stay in the ultra premium because there's money to be had and there's always rich people with money. But trying to grow that that sort of mid premium, you know, $30 to $60 is is very, very hard. The other thing that I was interested, there was a when they were talking about there was like a Dare Murphy's report, and when they were talking about what their customers choose to buy, 70% of our customers choose to buy a pinnacle brand. Well, I don't think so. That's right. That's possibly because 70% of what they're selling is uh pinnacle because it's got better better shelf space. And you know, if you understand retailing and you do go in there and you don't, you know, I was talking to my boss about this yesterday, because he said to me, Do you know where the new CEOs come from who's brought this in? She's from Jet Star. Oh, uh she's extra. How long has she been in there? Fairly recently. Remember so she's just come in and made a splash. Was she responsible? Because Oak Ridge shut down their restaurant first. I I don't know when she was appointed. So it could be that that's been aligned as well. Yeah, sell the doors don't make money. Restaurants, wine restaurants, you know, very rarely make money. It's a long burn. I mean, Oak Ridge is uh, my God, uh as a Yarrow Valley person, it is one of the jewels in our crown. The wines are all good. There's not a bad wine to be had from Oak Ridge. And it for me, for Endeavour, it's such an asset for them. But yeah, it's just obviously been a are you worried about what I'm worried about what's gonna happen to Oakridge. I mean, I don't know how much what Oak Ridge's production is, but say it's 400 ton, they're probably not producing all of that from their own vineyard, so they're buying fruit from growers. Yeah. I don't know. But as you say, it's an it's like an institution, it is it is really, really great wine across the board. And like we have some, like, say Gary Erring that are you know, everyone knows Gary Erring's amazing, but it's all premium. Like you have to spend ultra, ultra, you have to spend a hundred bucks minimum. Oak Ridge is probably the best. Yeah, and I think that they were one of the first companies that were buying fruit that were naming the vineyards on the labels. That they kind of put Willow Lake on the label, you know. They've got the Fundrain Diamond, which I think they may own. I don't know what their assets are, but it's a real shame. And I'm I just think of all the people at all these wineries, they must be sort of cranking in their boots at the moment, thinking, well, what's going to happen to us? There'll be international interest. I I really don't know. I can't think of anyone in the world. Because I I was I was talking to uh someone yesterday about it and I said, Well, maybe hand picked, but hand picked has got wineries everywhere now. So they were the only people that I because they bought Arras. Yeah, they did. But I guess they've got a Tasmanian vineyard, they've got a Mornington. Uh I don't know who would be I don't know, LVMH. I don't know. Well, you got rid of Kate Mentel to them. So it's yeah, it's like I don't know. I'll put in a good word though. I love that. That'd be nice if we did that. Treasury. I can't see Treasury doing it. They're look they're going the other way. Everyone is slimming, not no. I just of all the wineries we could lose, not this one. Come on, like scary. Okay, well, that's that covered. We will keep up to date. It's just it's really interesting. It's like we've we've seen this progress through the industry. That it was first the growers, then the hit hard times, then the wineries, and now really truly we're seeing it in the retailers, and it's it's a true reflection of the state of the industry and and the new normal for us, and we're having to restructure everything. And you know, the the business uh wine business has had to adapt over the years to being mum and dad little, you know, vineyards and brands and everything. We saw this with Treasury Wine Estate when they were buying up brands, you know, and then they were dumping brands and uh and consolidating brands and things. So we it's not like we haven't seen it before, but as Brendan was saying, it's not a blip. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the new normal. It is the new normal. And we have to adapt to it. Oh, so if you've got a couple of hundred million to spare, yeah. All those rich people that listen to us, get your friends together, pull in, buy Oak Ridge. We'll we'll personally we'll keep funding it by drinking it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, you know, it always wins awards at the Yarrow Valley Wine Show. We used to laugh because we endeavored do sponsor the wine show, which is fantastic, but we used to laugh, you know, it was Oak Ridge. But the the the wine's absolutely 100%. They're often like the holiday top wine of the year, and they just they win best value, they win best premiums, like they just have it all across the board. So it's brilliant ones. Oh my god, it's such a jewel. I just want to make sure it stays good. Okay, federal budget. So budget basically we know that it lays out next year's spending. But Meg, you wanted to talk

Federal Budget And Wine Abandonment

21:51

about it. And so is that because you're a nerd and you always want to talk about things like budgets, or like is the wine industry always on edge, or is this year different? Different. What's it mean with the thing? The wine industry has been 100% abandoned by the government. They will allow it to destroy, but to be destroyed. There is no funding. We went in for 139 million, which in a budget the size that we're looking at is a rounding error. By we do Australian grape and wine. So our lobby group Wine Australia. Australia Grape and Wine, which is our Australian Grape and Wine. Yeah, AGW. Lee McLean. Wine Australia is the marketing body. Oh, so that's so yeah, okay. So it's Lee. Is Lee still in charge? Yes. Okay. I saw him on last Monday. Yeah, we love Lee. We've had him on. So AGW went in of 139 million, of which it part of it was for a structured exit from the industry. They went to the government and they said, and I don't know what value how much it was going to cost, but we have a shortage of fuel. We have an excess of wine. Can we please take all the excess wine that we're never going to sell and convert it to biofuel? They found a place in the New South Wales coast. Can you give us some money to do this? No. We have a problem with mental health. Can you give us some money for this? No. We got nothing. And to open up that wound and pour the salt in, the Salador grant, which we get for people who are earning over a million dollars through Salador. So not everyone's it doesn't apply to everyone, being scrapped in two years. So they they have basically said, the Albanese government have basically said that we will just let natural attrition take care of the industry. We had a round table last week with Aric Violi, who's the federal member for he's Liberal, federal member for the Yarrow Valley region, Lee McLean, Lisa Scott, who's an advisor to the Australian Grape and Wine, and I asked the question has there been any industry that you know of that has had this same sort of circumstance and has managed to pull themselves out? Yeah. And the by sitting there going, and Lisa, who's just an absolute straight shooter, went, no. And interesting, of all the wine-growing regions in Australia, only one of them is held by a Labor member. So there's no votes in it for them. I was gonna ask how political this is because Oh well, yeah, so it's either a it's coalition members, so because it's rural, most regions, so they vote for obviously the national slash liberals. Yeah. So there's no votes. So they don't care. I mean, I was even wondering, like, in such a cost of living crisis, where there's really big issues, if they would be concerned that like does wine look like a luxury thing to be saving when there are like we know that it's real people in real lives, but but from like a semantics point of view, does it I wonder if they were concerned about if putting funding into it looks like helping save something that's just a luxury that we don't need in a hard times? Well, the thing is possibly, but we do. It's it's more than just a luxury product, you know, it's agri it's an agricultural business. They gave two million to help out that bloody steel works in South Australia. I mean, no steel's on a dying industry, but though we'll prop that up because there's votes in it. There's no votes in it. And the Lisa Scott said an interesting thing that people see people who are in the wine industry as rich, and that the biggest decision is where we're going to holiday in Europe this year. And that is just not the reality. Oh my god, it's not. And but it's perception. So agricultural industry. But what is even worse, because of the capital gains tax that they've introduced, these people are sitting on land, that's their only asset. And if they have extra land, they're going to get hit for CGT. When they sell it. So in England, this uh I was sitting next to the PR person from Treasury Wine Estate, Imogen was her name. I can't remember her surname. And she said in the UK, when they introduced inheritance tax, so if you're a landowner and you sell off your land, your the money that your kid kids could potentially inherit, it that they tax at this huge rate. So they introduced this inheritance tax. And people were killing themselves before the tax was introduced so their kids wouldn't get hit by the inheritance tax. We could see that. It is just I am furious. Yeah. And then taking away the seller funding. And and and as you say, it's it's even like it's it's one thing to be like help us keep this industry alive, and it's another thing to be like help us just not lose too much money and completely. All we're asking for is graceful exit. Exactly. Help us empty the tax the tanks, we'll take it from there. Yes, yes. Like we're not asking for anything else. The government's the one that was partially responsible for the people. They were responsible with wet because of the the what the way wet is structured and all the money you could run yourself at a loss and be a primary producer and you could plant vineyards in the 90s, which you know, all these rich people were f putting pouring money into, my dad included, into you know, agricultural pursuits so that they could decrease their own tax burden. Oh, look, it's it was set up. And the I'm sorry, but the media is not helping by continually talking about Gen Z not drinking, like that's the freaking issue. Like forest, like it's it's it's part of the pie, but it's interesting you just said that because uh Elliot said, Mum, I'm Gen Z, we drink. Well and I said, Well, not wine, yeah. I drink wine, and Elliot does. Um, our wine bill's just gone through the rest since that child has discovered wine. I mean, like, I think we need to be careful about using personal anecdotes. No, I know, but I'm not uh there's definitely a a decrease uh per capita. But it's like yeah, it's also the structural stuff that's how that it's hurting us so much worse. It's like avocado toast, everyone said like everyone said avocado toast is the reason that millennials weren't buying houses. I feel like blaming Gen Z for the Australian wine crisis is the avocado toast of the wine industry. But then I mean, this is a budget for to help out future generations, hopefully. So of course everyone's up in arms, the older people with sitting on you know 40 different properties. And I don't I don't know that I believe that you should be allowed to own more than one property. Even you know what, have have three guys, have a few. Maybe even stop at like five. But like the amount of properties people have is let's let's I don't know. Okay, we are getting far beyond yes. So the budget was not good for us. Actually, I think this might be on people's minds. I will ask you this how does it sit with you because you're notoriously left-leaning? How does it sit with you? How are you feeling knowing that the government that you support is yeah, like abandoning the industry that you love so much? Well, I've just got a text from them asking for some money, and I'm about to text back after this and say, you've done nothing for my industry. Stop asking me for money, I'm not donating anymore. Yeah, wow. I know, I mean, it was and as I think Lisa said, it is a rounding error. It's like, oh, it's supposed to be 478 bazillion, and that's 139 million just gets rounded up or rounded down. It's it's not even, it is just so arsey to do it. 139 million, nothing. All right. Less than less than what Endeavor's gonna flog off in their assets. Crazy, half. Yeah, that's correct. So Endeavor, when you get that money, maybe donate 150 million to the one in treatment. That's true, that would be nice. Okay, let's go a little more less political, maybe. Oh, maybe, maybe we're still you know, we're still sideboarding politics here. But there's been a lot spoken about in America at the moment about Napa because and I'm so sorry to depress you all. Don't

Napa Water Limits And Dry Farming

30:46

worry, it's gonna get fun in the end. I have a plan, but we need to drink. Yeah, I know. Someone open a bottle. So Napa has been overusing water. Now, they're not officially in the drought because droughts are when there's not enough rain coming from the sky. But what has been the issue is that they are overpumping water from the ground. They have overpumped their like limits, their springs by 1,500 acre feet. For the last six years, they've been overpumping that much. What is an acre feet? Oh, I was hoping you would know. Can't they just do it in litres or I don't know. So what 150 acre? I don't know. 1,500. So maybe it's 1,500 acres extra worth of land that they've been pumping. Yeah, yeah. So basically they have these thresholds of which they're allowed to, they're allowed to I'm sorry, what is going on, Austin? Did you just do a shot? What? Yeah. Did you literally just do a shot? Yeah. Oh my god. No one looked at me, so I was like just suffering in the middle. No, I was like, I thought you'd just had some medicine or something. So I was being kind and not what did you just do a shot? Because that was so bleak. Yes. Oh my god, is everyone listening drinking right now? Oh my god, we're gonna single-handedly okay. Drive consumption of wine. Oh, yeah, true. Make laugh depressed and then it's no, that is not how you deal with problems, friends. That's right. No, okay. So basically, there is not enough water in the ground, and they were like, if we only use this much water in the ground, we might be okay. But every single year they've gone over it to the point now that they're having to do like penalties and fees, and it's getting really bad. So I have a couple of questions. Meg, is this happening more broadly, or is it just California? And do we just hear about it because Napa's big and significant? And the second thing is that it brings me back to thinking about this idea of dry farming and dry farming being not irrigating and just only whatever rain you you get relying on that. And I know it's hard, so I but I want to know what are the realities of actually achieving it. So if you look at the geography of Napa, Napa's between two sort of mountain ranges, you know, you've got and then you've got the Pacific Coast, and down the bottom towards San Pablo Bay near San Francisco, it opens up a little bit. So it's it's kind of like a a bowl, and so the water that falls down can be captured and kept in dams, and that's the water that you can use. But what they've been doing, because you have these mountains, when mountains form, pockets form in them and water natural water springs occur. So they've been pumping out of these. And what often happens when you do that and they run dry, if any of you have ever done a bore where you've gone to it down and got bore water, you can actually increase the salinity of your soils so it can have ongoing damaging effects. Really? Yeah, I don't know where the the they're pumping from, so it that that may not be an issue. But dry ground farming, uh what happens with dry ground farming is you you need the water holding capacity of the soil needs to be pretty good. So you you want it to fill up during winter. Yeah. And if you have moderate summers, often that can get you through without having to add any water. But California goes in and out of drought cycles. They also are pumping up yield, you know. You you add water to keep your leaves nice and open so you've got good photosynthesis, but also to you know add to your your grape volume. So I think that you yes, dry grown could work for that premium ultra premium end, it's not going to work for the entry level. Or do we, and this is what we were discussing about the Yarrow Valley the other day, do we convert the Napa to just an ultra premium region and decrease the volumes incredibly? Yeah. And do we just convert the Yarrow Valley to the Burgundy of Australia? But like my question is how do you like like one would assume you can't just turn off the hoses and be like, we are now drag grown. Like, what is the process? Does it require a complete replanting or can not replanting, but pruning pruning? So it's all got to do with pruning. How because when you prune, you determine the yield of that plant for the next year's growth, right? So you remember cane pruning? So those nodes along the cane, you leave eight of those versus six of those versus four of those. That's your what your yield's going to be. Now, with less water, you can only support a lower yield because it's got less leaves, so there's less transpiration, less uptake of the water. It could work because there's a glut. We know that they're pulling out vines in in Napa. There's a there's a glut. And where is there a glut? I'm assuming possibly at that lower end. But again, like the Riverland, like what's happening in Australia, like what's happening in South Africa, because that they had such a massive drought that they couldn't, they thought that I think Stellenbosch, they they weren't able to have a shower. Like the whole country. What we have to just think, mate, let's make less and less just make really good wine. But then you make really good wine, really expensive wine, costs go up. Who can afford it? No one, because we're living in cost of living crisis. Not good. Yeah, yeah. Someone uh compared wine the other day to drinking like ins people used to drink instant coffee at home, and then we went through this phase of when times were better. There was a lot of like buying a coffee out, and and they're saying that wine is in this phase where people used to drink wine at home habitually, and now they're not anymore, and it's like you're spending better for a special occasion, but we're not sure if it's gonna go backwards like it did with coffee because people are doing more coffee at home now. Are they? Yeah. Okay. With cost of living. Those Nespresso machines. I just Well, yeah, I guess people are more likely to have some sort of machine or another at home now. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how what happens with wine and yeah, if if spending I just can't see it going backwards, but anyway. Okay, okay, okay. Cheer us up. So it'll cheer us up. Okay, okay. I was just sitting here like, oh my god. I know, okay. So we went to a hand-picked event last week. Oh, it got me thinking, okay. So we talk so much in wine about commercial realities,

Handpicked And The Romance Of Wine

37:41

so decisions wineries have to make. But there's something at hand-picked about romance. There, there's this focus on sight, organics, they have so many wines, and normally that's a headache for a business, but they just do it. And it seems to be for a love of experimenting with sight and experimentation on all these different things. So I have this big important question. Austin, do you know what Wellingtons are now? I I've learned that a welly, as um the colloquial term is, is a gum boot of sorts. Which you'd never worn before. No, I hadn't, not even as a child. I was a little city boy. And I gotta tell you, those things are incredibly uncomfortable. I don't know how people wear them. I also, thanks to Hampicked, got to ride in a tractor. Oh my god. Which I thought was really cool. Which he made me do. I love the idea of Meg. She spent half her life on a tractor. She's like a winemaker. She goes, I'll take the car. And I was like, No, no, no, come with me. And I'm like, oh, it was we were on a bin trailer, so they put some bins in and we climbed into the bins, and Austin's like, yeah, you get in there. And I'm like, I've like walked up, I've been bucket boy, I've been tractor driver. Yes, anyway, I I did it for like the thing for the Brandon LaRue. I get there and Banks rolled her eyes going, he made me ride on a tractor. And then do you know how much around it these are like wellies? She was like, I spend half my life with a tractor. The thing is, I know that wellies or gum boots are really that make your feet so cold. So I did take an extra pair of socks to put on, so I was smart. I uh they're very cute. I got there late and I was speaking to a woman who is the editor of a magazine. And well, she was fantastic. She was gourmet traveller. No design, it was a design, interior design, like um design. What was it? Country style. Country starts. Yeah, she's ex-gourmate traveller. Ex Gourmet Traveller, right? So Country Star. She was lovely, but I'd only just met her, and I was like, Yeah, we do this podcast. And I was like trying to point you guys out, and she goes, Oh, you're with Austin. Oh, here's the learn what Wellies are. And I'm like, it my god, Austin is so funny. He just like goes into a room and instantly becomes besties with everybody. He was in the bus with them for two hours, so he had them all, I think, singing kumbayama law on on the way, on the way out. I will say a lot of people when they talk to us or message in do point out love the addition of Austin. So good to have you, Austin. But my god, that was so funny. I show up and I start talking to someone. One of the first things is said to me is like, that guy over there, he didn't know what wellings were. Have you seen that guy who didn't know what wellings were? Yeah, it was pretty cute. But did you when they beg circling back, did you feel a bit of love, bit of passion, that romance for wine that that that feels a little lost now? Did you feel it the other day? Even me, who I've seen those, you know, I've driven in tractors, I've driven tractors, I've been in vineyards, that's why I didn't walk back. The views from the top of Highbrow Hill were phenomenal. Having those oysters shucked to demand was pretty good. Uh, and just the way they talk about their vineyard sites, their wine-making. Yeah, it's again, it's like I said, it's that passion of the people for inanimate things like vines. And it was sad to learn that, you know, that vineyard has been hit by phyluxa. So they bought this huge investment, it would have been, and then they found the pox in it, and so they've been gradually replanting but converting to organic at the same time. I mean, I saw that site, I reckon it was about 2013. It was a sham just as hand picked had taken over it. I'm not sure of the year, it was an absolute shambles, but what a beautiful vineyard. Great site. The event was phenomenal, and just I there's something that impresses me with them. I think when you read all the pages that come through about wine trends and data and this and that, and then you see all the innovation come out every time a new wine comes out. I go, Oh, yeah, that's that trend, and they're responding to that consumer need and blah blah blah. But hand picked just love sight and wine, and there was something so nice about that. And some of the wines I was like, I'm not even sending to him, like the chief winemaker. He was like telling me about the thank you, about the uh a blended put together, and I was like, consumers won't get this though, like this is not and it was like it hadn't occurred to him. Well, not really, like his, you know, he's still clever guy, but it's like it then they they're not following trends, they're not just like trying to respond to what's gonna sell the best. It he literally was like, Well, this was growing and that was growing, and I thought that could be interesting, and so we made something amazing, and it was just it ignited a little bit of spark and love back into the it's uh yeah, that they they've got it right, it's it's about premium, it's about sight. Um, yeah, it's it's a it's a great business, and thanks for having us. And I discovered that my friend in England's niece, Livvy, yeah. Uh and I I actually texted Xenia after I'd finished because this woman asked me if uh do you know any English MWs? And of all of the English MWs, she said Xenia Roscom King, and I went, Zens, warrior princess. I did my MW with her. Used to have dinner with her every Tuesday night. We've been communicating with Livy for years, like right. But how would I ever know? No, no, but it's like just crazy that I what a small world the wine industry, man. Also, we love her, we love that team. Oh, yeah. That event was just I mean, next, next level. It was great. We had a good night. All right, well, yes, I I'm to answer your question. I it did give me just a spark of warm love in my tummy, particularly for my beautiful Yarrow Valley. That view, you didn't get to see it. I mean, you know, I know I'm not God and I didn't make the Yarrow Valley, but it is beautiful. Yeah. Well, you're about to refute the fact that she's not God. You look like you're about to say you didn't make it, but you certainly perfected it. No, it's all this we we need to get osten out of here. It's all these passionate individuals. This is what I'm saying. These people who are not doing it because they're extremely well paid. They're doing it because they bloody love it. Okay, we're done now. Happy next week. Okay, Meg, what are we doing next week? We're gonna look at the difference between well, whether we can pick Pinot Gris versus Pinot Grigio. I love it. So we can

Next Week’s Pinot Gris Blind Test

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do it blind. In theory, there's differences, but it's like, okay, let's see if they're actually people, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I picked the wines, but Austin's gonna pour them for them for pour them, pour them for us blind so that we don't know what to speak for. All right, love it. That wraps us up for the week. We will see you then and enjoy a nice glass of wine. Drink well.