Wine News: Has The Australian Wine Industry Reached It's Breaking Point, New Members For The Australian Wine Board, Len Evans Tutorial Breakdown, and What's On In Wine PLUS MORE!

Wine people love a good crisis chat, but what happens when the story gets so grim that customers start believing wine itself is the problem? We’re tackling that head-on, with a glass in hand and a focus on what actually moves the Australian wine industry forward.

We start with a bright spot: the Len Evans Tutorial scholars and why this intense, blind-tasting program is considered one of Australia’s most prestigious wine education pathways. From judging workshops to museum wines, it’s a reminder that training, consistency, and clear communication are still the backbone of great wine judging and great wine careers.

Then we get into the big mood shift. We unpack the recent pushback against industry doom-scrolling, including Dan Sims’ argument for less wallowing and more customer focus, plus the reality that wine is facing global structural change, generational shifts, and fierce competition from other drinks. That opens the door to fresh thinking, like wine cocktails and new occasions that help people discover Australian wine without the snobbery.

We also cover Coravin’s first aged wine clinic in Sydney, what it means to assess an old bottle through the cork, and the uncomfortable possibility of being told your treasured wine is corked. Add new directors on the Wine Australia board, plus how Australian wine shows are evolving beyond the old boys’ club into more diverse panels and stronger mentoring for new judges, and you’ve got a full snapshot of where wine is heading. To finish, we share the fun stuff: KFC’s wine bar pop-up in London and a stack of upcoming wine events worth planning around.

If you enjoyed this Wine News catch-up, subscribe, share it with a wine mate, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

As we said on the ep write in! We love hearing from you.

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Transcript

Welcome And What’s On Today

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Hi, and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel. We're here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Austin Curry, producer Austin. I'm joined by Master of Wine, Meg Brockman. Meg, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Wow, I was thinking for a minute that Mel's voice has gone very deep and sexy. I want to point out. You do have a radio voice, I have to say.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Thank you so much. That's a real compliment. I do want to point out you made that joke last time. I was like, Oh, did I?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Oh, boring.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

You did. But that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Got nothing, got no new new material, mate. I'm getting old. Yes, not as old as my Greys.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

We were just talking about I've had to grow.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

He's about to turn 30, so yeah, we're feeling I could be your mother. My mum's your age, I think. Oh, that's scary. Is that bad? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Well, no, I don't feel you know, you don't feel your age, so it's all good. Yeah, but mum, you know, they had kids young. My mum, the Italians. They were trying to have kids from like 22. Yeah, yeah. So they were really going for it. Anyway, welcome to Wine News, everyone. Not here to have your birth stories. No. Um, no, please no. We have a lot to get through today. We thought we owed it to you guys to get this Wine News episode out, even though Mel is not here. There is uh a lot of stuff. And we don't even know where she is. No, she's just done a bit of a ghost on us. So if anyone, this is a welfare check for Mel. If you're around, give us a couple of things.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Where are you, Mel? You're doing something else, some other podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

She has given me a full script, which is great. So just know.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Mel so organized, bit of FOMO. And she's never organized.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

I've never seen that from her. Um, but I do have a full script. Um, she even told me to make fun of her for writing a script. That's how detailed she got with giving me these data. Like, it's all good. I can, I can, I can add lip a little bit. But to run through everything that we are gonna go through today, uh, we have Coravan's first ever aged wine clinic, which is really exciting. Two new directors to the Wine Australia board and what this will mean for the industry going forward. Our Australian wine shows changing. Uh, there's an article from Cindle Petty and Halliday Wine Companion that we're gonna touch on. Uh, the big story has wine industry negativity gone to a breaking point? And that comes right at the the sort of I guess the story is Dan Sims and and what he was saying uh on a panel quite recently. But uh, we're gonna touch on that.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

And he followed that up with an article in the Australian.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yes, um, which we sort of misquoted him. I wouldn't mind talking about that when we get to it. But let's start with the 2026 Len Evans tutorial scholars. They have been announced now for for anybody that doesn't know it is Australia's most prestigious wine

Len Evans Tutorial Explained

SPEAKER_01 2:39

education program. Just 12 scholars selected each year from across the country to spend an intensive week tasting and learning from some of the world's best wine educators and masters of wine. Meg, over to you, to anyone who hasn't heard of Len Evans tutorial. What actually happens during the week? Is it considered a career-defining opportunity, or is this like the winemaker's equivalent of O-Week?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

So Len Evans was a Hunter Valley icon, I guess. He produced wine. He was sort of started at the same time as James Halliday. I think he might have been a lawyer, like James Halliday, or a doctor. Okay. No, a lawyer. And he just loved wine. And when he died, his part of his estate went to starting this Len Evans tutorial. So what it is is they get the brightest young minds as an application process. And Sue Bell, a friend of mine, winemaker at Bellwether, she applied, I think, seven times before she got on. Wow. Yeah, so it's really, really, really competitive to get into. It's over five days. It involves five judging workshops, each of them featuring 30 wines served blind. And the judging focuses on core grape varieties, historical regions, museum wines. You could see anything. They end the day, the the week with the Romney Conti tasting. And I have heard, and I don't know who told me this, that they are the single biggest buyers of Romney Conti in the world.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Just this to be.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

In terms of volume. Yeah, because it's so hard. It's as rare as hens teeth. So hard to get hold of. At least they're actually drinking it. And what they do is they then assess the students, their ability to obviously identify wines, talk about, communicate wines, but also hidden in there are little, they put the same wines in twice so that they see if they've got consistency amongst their judging. So it is a really rigorous programme. Sarah Crow, who's at Yary Ering, I think she's the co-chair of it or the deputy secretary or something. And so she goes, You get all these amazing mines, they just taste an incredible amount of wine. But it is to teach, to show Australian industry people, wine people, the great wines of the world. And it includes a lot of Australian wines. Like last year, I think they did a deep dive on cloniciller wines. Yeah. So they just it's not just focusing on the usual sort of suspects of Bordeaux and Burgundy. And then out of it they choose a ducks.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Now, I guess we have a lot of people that are in the wine industry or are still learning. At what stage would somebody consider even applying for this like spot?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

You'd have to be mid-career.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Most of the people seem to be sort of in their mid to late 30s that seem to get into it. But I mean, people start applying, you know, like Sue Bell start applying really quite young. So it's it's sort of, yeah, it's it's to give people probably that next step up to becoming industry leaders.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

And you would say in terms of like their wine education level at that stage, West at three post that as you're going towards a master of wine or around that spot, or even though it's not a good one.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Yeah, it's probably around level master of wine level, definitely. But the selection process, because there's only 12 people and how many people are applying every year, is it's so hard to get into. You know, the MW, you pay for it. And the thing is, they put you up, apparently the dinners are amazing. I've never done it, I've never applied for it. I'm too old now to do it.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

So considering the dinners are amazing, I'm just going to start applying and just see what happens. Yeah, why not? Maybe they'll just I'll slip through the cracks. Oh, that's fantastic. That's so exciting. So the scholars were selected this week.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

The scholars were selected. It's usually around October, November, and it's up in the Hunter, I think. Yeah. Because that's where he's from. But it's a not-for-profit organization. It it survives on donations from people. But Sally Evans, I think I named Sally, his daughter, I think she oversees the sort of foundation that that runs it. It's a it's just a great give back to the industry. I think it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

More positive news because on this show we focus on positive.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

We're definitely focusing on positive now. Absolutely. I'm over it.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I think, yeah, there was a bit of a breaking point, but let's talk about that now. I think you had Dan Sims as we were discussing it, and Mel noticed something

Is Wine Industry Negativity Peaking

SPEAKER_01 6:58

interesting this month. Uh, and it feels like it might be a bit of a turning point. First, uh, she cited the Instagram account called Six Parallels South. So she is she's actually gone on the emails and sent us memes, which made me feel very young.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Uh the only one I thought was funny was the one with the he's riding along the bike and says, I want to start up a vineyard and winery. Oops, it's and then he puts a stick in the spokes and he says, Oops, it's failed. Oh, it's Dan Murphy's fault. That was funny. I thought the other ones were a bit stupid.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Yeah, well, uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

But you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Six parallels South Instagram. Still quite funny. But essentially that's that's what it is. It's memes poking fun at what seems to be the wine industry's obsession with blaming Dan Murphy's for every problem. Almost at the same time, yes, you did have wine Victoria chair Dan Sims. Uh, he wrote an opinion piece or was quoted in an opinion piece uh for the Australian, arguing the industry needs to stop wallowing in negativity and start focusing on consumers instead. And I say this even though one of Dan's major things is to stop saying for the wine industry consumers and rather start saying customers, as he found it, dismissive to our buyers and people that that love wine.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Look, his message was simple the quality of Australian wine has never been better. If we keep telling consumers, customers how terrible everything is, they'll start believing wine is terrible too. We on this podcast make a really strong point to try and be positive. I think it's really important. News is sometimes news, and you want to report it just as is. But uh, Meg, you're one of the least wallowy people in this industry. And you've always been someone that focuses on solutions rather than problems, but you're also incredibly passionate about Australian wine and understand the challenges that uh have brought us to this point. So, where do you sit on this movement that's that's gaining a bit of momentum, perhaps, from some of these conversations? Uh, has the industry tipped too far into negativity, or do we actually just need to keep talking honestly about the problems if we're gonna solve them?

SPEAKER_00 8:51

I agree. I think we just have to recognise that the industry is going through and I'm talking about globally, it's going through major structural change and it's never going to go back. Step one. So let's look forward. So rather than go, oh, what did we do wrong? What did we do wrong? We should be focusing on what we're gonna go forward, looking at what our customers want. It was interesting. Dan was on a panel at a seminar at Melbourne University.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Is this the end of wine as well as we know it?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

And it was discussing the polycrisis in the wine industry, which is a systemic entanglement of a series of crises, a confluence of crises, that's the definition. So very freaking cheery. Thanks, Oxford. But there was they posted on that, I think, a a picture of Is this the end of wine as we know it? And and they had it in a 750 mil bottle and a glass, and then they said, No, it's like it's just how you see it or something, and we have to change how we use wine. You know, recently um I've written a blog on wine cocktails and using the wine for the company that I work for, and people are like, Oh my god, how can you use your wine with Coca-Cola? And I said, Well, why not? It actually tastes bloody delicious. And if I can sell Cabernet Sauvignon because they're going to mix it with Coke, I don't care. You know, just keep the industry alive. We need to just be thinking about what people want, but also I go back to this people do not enter their intoxicant phase in their tw late teens, early twenties of drinking, legal drinking age to wine. That comes later.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah, there's definitely like just changing understanding of what wine was. My background being Italian, we drank wine as kids, you know, you mix it with water, and that was part of culture. Wine to me represented adulthood in a way, and that's obviously not the case in a lot of Australian homes.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

It's sorry, but part of it, but in that Polychrist talk, I think the French woman said it's it's also generational differences. You don't want to drink what your parents drink. So that's that's part of it. So you sort of, you know, you go out and drink something else. There are so many more beverages available now for people to drink.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yes. Yeah, no, that's I think that's that's the main thing. And Dan's impassioned speech at that at that seminar sort of felt like it should have ended with him slamming his Nike Air Max on the on the table. He he yelled viva la revolution and and was definitely happy that the wine industry is is is forced to make this change, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

I think so. Yeah, I think so, because we it's it it's removing where the industry is is failing most is that volume end. And is that a bad thing?

SPEAKER_01 11:33

No, you know, well you can make it a you can make it a positive and and you can pivot as needed.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Oh, I agree. And and it it is it is a global problem. It's it's not just in Australia. So let's just have a restructure, let's just produce the great wine that we are producing, let's talk it up, and people will if you build it, they will come.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

I like it.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Have you seen Field of Dreams? No.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

I have, of course I've seen Field of Dreams.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

A lot of people don't get that reference. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Okay. They just look at me like that. That's a bit of a wow, the world's changing in so many other ways. Kevin Costner was in his hot phase then. How do you find him now?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

I don't think I've seen him for ages.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

He was in Brisbane the other day.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Was he? What was he doing in Brisbane?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Does he I don't know, he went to a footy game.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

I think he was he was I don't know, it would have been for an ad, uh for some thingy shooting. Yeah, wonderful. Well, Dan, we're gonna stay positive uh and we're gonna think of you during this during this whole period. Ah do you do you even met him?

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Yeah, Dan, because well he's the chair of Wine Vic, and so as chair of Yarrow Valley Wine Growers Association, he also runs probably the best wine event, Pinot Palooza. I went to that last year. Yeah, so he runs that, he knows how to run events, he's passionate about the Victorian wine industry. And yeah, I do a a bit with Wine Victoria. So yeah, I've met him, I know him.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Fantastic. All right. Now on to Coravan's first ever aged wine clinic. Now, Coravan is launching what it says is the world's first aged wine clinic

Coravin’s Aged Wine Clinic Debate

SPEAKER_01 12:57

in Sydney. Now, wine lovers, you can pay $1.99 to bring in a treasured bottle and have master of wine Andrea Pritzka. Is that Andrea Pritzka? Andrea Pritzka. Pritzka, who's lovely, who I've met. She is gorgeous. She's wonderful. She loves you. Oh it was very sweet. And that Andrea will assess whether it's uh drinking at its peak, using Coravan's system should taste the wine through the cork without actually opening the bottle, then recommend when it should be revisited. That's very cool. I'm a big fan of this.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah, I want to know how much she's taking out to assess whether it's drinkable. Because you will have that increased what we call allage.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

But and will the the argon gas stay forever? I I know that Coravan have these fantastic finer needles for for the for the older wines. So yeah, it's a it's really, really interesting because pen folds do the pen folds clinics where they will refill your grange.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yep, yes, your wines.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yeah, Coravan, this is this is a completely different take on it. But yeah, I don't know. It's a har it's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah. When we talk about optimal yeah, I mean look if it's a very expensive bottle, which is I think where this is designed for, I think the people have the but what happens if it's not?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

What happens if she says it's it's cork, this one.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

I don't know about it. What in terms of optimal drinking time time frame, what how broad can that act can that spectrum be?

SPEAKER_00 14:28

How long's a piece of string? I mean half as long as when you fall. This is the oh boom. Um this is the issue. It's it's like some, you know, really great wines could go 30, 40, 50 years.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Um I've had in I had a 1958 Barolo in probably 2010. Must be high. It was drinking well, but it wouldn't have gone any further further. But the thing is, you I bet I think you judge these wines differently. Yeah, exactly. Because you've invested, right? And then you've opened it, so you've made that Jesus, I'm gonna do it. So you you're gonna force yourself to love it, I reckon. I did have an 18 something Saturn once, a guy that I was going to uni with.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Um you've spoken about this one before.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

And it was it was fine, but it was, you know, not great. So I don't aging, who knows? Depends on the and it's all under cork, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

It look, it certainly it certainly shows Andrea's skill and and confidence to be able to be like, yeah, I'm gonna be able to get it.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Great job, good gig to get.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Yes. Yes, if you know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

And imagine having to sell someone your wine's corked.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

That's she's gonna have to.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Isn't that awful? I'm sure there will be corked wines in there. Just statistics, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Well, keep us updated on that. But if anyone is interested, it is happening in Sydney.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

So you have to fly up to Sydney with your little bottle.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Or if you're in Sydney, we have a lot of Sydney listeners.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

I don't think I have any wine worth flying up. Nah. Um, I've just got to be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

And I would just I would exactly I would just open it. I would just like, eh, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Um, we have two new directors to the Wine Australia board. What does this mean, essentially? Uh the Board of Australia, yes, has two new directors, Darren Hacoff and Steven Straker. Oh, Hacoff, I said Hackoff. Is it Hacoff

Wine Australia Board Changes

SPEAKER_01 16:25

or Hakoff?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

I don't I don't know, but I was looking at his name. Hackoff. It's like the head of Endeavour. I'm sure her name's Hard Liquor.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

It is Hard Liquor. I've read it. It's hard liquor. I've read it.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

So Hackoff and Hard Liquor. Anyway, sorry, I interrupt you.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

No, you're fine. Darren Hackoff and Darren, if you're listening, please tell us how to say your name. And Stephen Straken, are we confident in that one? Um no, Stephen Straughan. Is it that's great? Good start, Austin. Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said they did it because expanding to seven members brings Wine Australia into line with other research and development corporations, strengthening its capacity, governance, and industry expertise at a time of significant change for Australia's wine sector.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Which Polly speak. I'm sorry. The reason they did it is the original board had one person that had a wine industry background. And there is a group of people led by Louisa Rose at Yolumba, incredible winemaker, she's been around for a long time, but signed by what we're called the elders. So all the industry store wards, like these huge people of the Australian wine industry, are saying, What are you doing? We need people with wine industry experience on this board at this time, most pertinently. So despite what Julie Julia says? Julie Collins. Julie Collins says, they did it because of industry pressure. They've chosen very, very well. So yes, that that's probably the follow-up. So Steve, what do you know about him? Strawn when I was starting out in the Australian in the wine industry, he was the CEO of what was then known as the Winemakers Federation, which kind of preceded Wine Australia. And it was interesting. I was reading an article that he wrote in 2010 about the oversupply of wine. So when I was looking at looking into him, right, he was it 2010? Yeah, 16th of March 2010, and the ABC he says it's been a very, very difficult year. We need to address the fact that Australia is producing uh 45 million cases a year more than it sells in 2010. And we continue to plant. Admittedly, we had China come into it then. Stephen Straught is the perfect person because he's addressed these oversupply issues for years, and he works as a consultant in that sort of agricultural supply and demand space. Darren is from Pernoricar. I think his experience is more on that commercial. So you kind of you've got structural infrastructure change, dude, with Steven, and then you've got where are we going to go with the wine with Darren? I think that's a really good. I applied, but you know, you look at those guys, they're way above me.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Well, okay, so you do think that this will there is a tangible difference that would happen with this amount of of people onto the board?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Look, I've seen how boards operate, and um I do wonder whether sometimes boards just exist for the sake of boards. What's I find interesting is that we still have the same interim chair, like they are dragging the chain on changing the the chair. And I think she actually speaks about it saying they're taking their time to Julie Collins, they're taking their time to find the new chair, but she's been interim for a couple of years now. So yeah, let's hopefully they can well, they have money to actually make some change.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Is it can I be candid, is it frustrating to see government interference and things like this when there hasn't been a lot of support for the industry recently, or it feels separate?

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Well, I just I just wonder how much they're gonna actually be able to implement because they've got they've been given no extra money, so they've just got to do what they've been doing and survive off the money that they've got. So yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Well, Darren and Stephen, welcome. We we look forward to to what you guys bring to the wine board.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

This is very exciting. It's great that we've got two great industry people and from two sort of spectrums with Liz Riley, who's who's got a viticulture background. So there's a nice little balance in there now. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Great. Now, moving on, are Australian wine shows changing? Now, Mel has sent through an article and uh was pretty confident this one would be

Wine Shows Evolve Beyond The Boys’ Club

SPEAKER_01 20:39

right up your alley, which is very bold to say. I think very few people know what's up, Meg's alley. In fact, she warned us this is probably where we were gonna go over time. Cindle Petty has written a piece for Halliday, arguing that Australian wine shows are finally evolving and moving away from the old hierarchical close enough. Boys' club culture towards a model that's more collaborative, more diverse, and focused on mentoring the next generation of judges. She also argues that as wines have become technically cleaner, wine shows have shifted from primary findings, finding faults to recognizing style, quality, and what consumers actually want to drink. Meg, not only do you have decades of wine show judging experience, but you've also been appointed as the as the chair. Director. Director, rather, of the Victorian wine show. Yes. Has this been your experience?

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Oh God. Yeah. So wine shows originally did start to improve the breed. That was the the job. So it was all judged by winemakers, they're all blokes. Over the years, and Cindle is correct, wine you you see very few faulty wines in wine shows now. And I would say even since let's say 2010 to 2026, 2010, you still would have seen some faulty wines. But now we have moved away from just having uh winemakers, and so we have someliers, wine trade people, buyers. Journalists come in to judge. So we've got a broader spectrum of views. They can be a little bit they originally they're a little bit dismissive. I remember I won't name the show, but I was a panel chair, and it was there were a bunch of winemakers on the show, and we had a couple of psalms. And Soms do speak in a different language, right? It's much more poetic and wordy and sometimes a little bit wanky. Let's be fair. And so when you're discussing why a wine deserves a gold medal, you need to be very clear as to, you know, with the complexity of the wine, the balance of the wine, whatever. But the when they they start talking in this flowery language, it doesn't really, really help. So the what happens in a show, you have judges and then you have a panel chair. So the panel chair is the chief judge of that group. So say three judges, including and the panel chair, and then you have an associate. So the associate is someone that you're going to hopefully bring up. So you have a training, it's a training ground for new judges. So they their scores don't count. Okay. They but they have a voice. So part of your role as panel chair and judge is to listen to them, teach them how I can hear a sighing out there. Teach them how how we judge how the how the system works. And then the aim is to move judges, the associates into judges. Every wine show has an associate. Yeah. So and it was never really formalized, and they used to be treated quite poorly. They have to pay for their own accommodation. You know, they're runs. They're they're invited for for the dinners, but yeah, they it's sort of but people really want to get in. I mean that's I mean at the Victorian wine show, and most of the wine shows that I've worked on or I've chaired, we've always tried to have a balance of gender. We've always tried to have a balance of trade, journalism, and winemakers. So you're not just having the same voices in the room over and over and over again, and having an associate programme so that after three years you assess. If you think the associate's not going to make it, you can just happily say at the end of three years, well, thank you very much, see you later. Or you give feedback as to why, you know, positive feedback. This is what you need to do. You probably need to go to another show, join the associate program there and get a little bit more experience, but then you move the judges through. And it's, you know, when you've been moved from associate to judge, it is kind of a big day. You're like at the big table at Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

And you can stop paying for your accommodation.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

It the thing that I'm finding is there's there's kind of a pool of judges that we're just using over and over again. And it's it comes down to availability at the end of the day. And this is where I think the associate program is really, really important because we need to be training these people and putting them out. The ASVO, which is the Australian Society of Viticulture and Inology, tried to put up like a register of judges and associates. But you know, I we've been trying to find judges for the Vic wine shop, and we've all been ringing around the same kind of people. So it's trying to bring in people from outside of that, which is harder. It's just people as availability. You've got to take three, four days off work. Yes. You don't get paid. If you're an associate, you have to pay, you know. So it can be quite difficult.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

With like a sort of wine industry events, I this might sound silly, but as someone who who loves wine, are they spectator events in the same way? You can come through and you can go sort of or watch the tastings. Is it anything that's that's consumer related?

SPEAKER_00 25:44

No.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

No, no, they're insular.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

I mean, they wouldn't mind. You know, I'm I've invited someone who's a journalist through to just for a day just to see how it works, because they're interested in how the judging system works. So I've said, and you know, we'll be as flexible as we possibly can about that person coming through just to see what it's like. But they often have exhibitors' tastings. So the exhibitors tasting is all the wines that have been shown. We and this is before the awards lunch, so you can go through and taste. I think that wine shows having a consumer-facing event.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

It some do, some don't. Okay. It is a pain in the ass to organise.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

In my mind, it's sort of like a best-in show. Remember that dog movie? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

I love that movie. Yeah, it is. It's like the Royal Melbourne show. You know, you get the blue ribbon.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Yeah, I want to go and see all the all the wines and all the stressed winemakers sitting on the side.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

And why didn't that cake win? And look at that cute little lamb that's pink.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

I feel like that'd be a bit of fun. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Well, and they've had to pull the birds out of the Royal Melbourne show or something because of the bird flu thing that's going on. Did you see that? Is that on at the moment? It's in September, but they don't want any birds flocking together.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Oh, well, birds of a fella tend to do that.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Yeah, I know, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Set that one up. Look at us go. Aren't we good? All right, moving on. There's uh a little bit of fun news, and I want to thank. Oh, I don't have their name, but but someone has sent this in, and we love it when you guys uh chat to us. Always

KFC Wine Bar And Listener Tips

SPEAKER_01 27:15

message us on Instagram. It's kind of a fun, lucky dip of who will message you back, as it's either myself or Mel or whoever's on Instagram at the time. So you can always chat to us there, but they have sent in not me.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

I very rarely answer about it.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

It's not you. KFC must have been listening to our What to Eat with Fried Chicken episode because they have done in London a pop-up wine bar to tastings with KFC. Now we know that we have UK listeners and we need you to get out there. Yeah, someone has to test this. Please, someone has to test this out.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Take some photos, post it on Instagram, tag us so that we know and tell us what the wines were.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Please do. What's the rose with the chicken on it?

SPEAKER_00 27:53

La Ville Femme de la Vie or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Yeah, no, that's that's front and centre.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Ooh, it's not a very nice wine.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

It is not. They call it the chicken wine.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Hence, I believe the marketing person at KFC went, I'm on to one here.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

So what, they're only gonna do that brand?

SPEAKER_01 28:11

I think there's quite a few.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Oh, it's like a okay. So I as long as it's not just a collab with them, because they're a pretty big producer from the Longer Dock, I think.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

They are, you got it in one. There you go. So we so to our UK listeners, please get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Someone goes and let us know which one works. And I just thought, yeah, when we did it, that it's the KFC was the disappointing bit.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

It was not good. I haven't eaten it since.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

I realize that when I purchase KFC, I am in a uh different headspace.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

But I also think you need, because we had it Ubered here, I think you need to be in the shop.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Uh I don't think that anybody should ever spend longer than they need to in a KFC shop.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

I think it's uh it's a get in and get out.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Okay. Well, I've heard the Zingerberger's the best thing that they've got.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Probably, but uh no, haven't been able to stomach that since. Anyway, what is on for wine going forward? There's some really exciting things this month, including an industry event, the Heathcote Wine Show

August Wine Events And Final Toast

SPEAKER_01 29:08

celebration lunch. It's on the 21st of August, and it is hosted by Megan Mel.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

There you go. Trust Mel to put that in.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

I didn't even I to be honest, I didn't know this.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Well, yeah, because I only read it. Joe contacted us a while ago. Mel had just ignored her, and I ran into her at the Real Review event because she was organising that as well. And she said, Well, what's happening? I said, Oh, yeah, I think we can do it. And then I went back and mailed and I said, Oh, actually, can we do it? I didn't ask it. It's going to be a very busy week because the night before I had the Yarrow Valley wine show dinner.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Yep. We and we got invited to something else. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Yeah, and then we got invited to the Halliday winners.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

I believe so, which I will be eventing. Okay. I would be attending on our behalf. So very exciting. Vic Heathcote wine show events are at Humanitics. Uh so get down to that. Come see.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Megan Mel and there's some great Grenache and No, I can't say anything. It's all right. No. No? Well, no. Um my husband's got a what got a gold. Oh, wow. For one of his wines.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Okay, that's very good. So now we have to get down. Yeah. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Grenache Blanc.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Ooh. I know. Really? Yeah. Got a gold too.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

And I keep saying to him, bring it home. He goes, Yeah, yeah, will I, will I, will a will a will. So I'm over the Urinto now. I'm over your other. Your Rinto was good, though.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

That was my favourite.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

That was but I it will be delicious.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Okay, that's very exciting. Well, furthermore, more consumer events. Vic, South Australia, WA, you have the big wine Odyssey. That's very topical. Did they change the name because of the movie?

SPEAKER_00 30:44

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Three wine clubs in different states are doing tasting events on the same night. It's cool to see the collab between these groups. Oh, it's apartment number six, Vino Champ and Split Wine. Oh, they are fantastic. Check out all of their Instagrams for more info. That is great. We love to see that. Oh, I'm gonna have to. That's over my that's over my birthday. I'm definitely gonna rock up.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

We've got apartment number six. We're hosting them on the 23rd. They've got an event.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Yes, I saw that. Very exciting. So keep an update, keep up to date on all of their Instagrams. Very cool. In Victoria, if you are in Victoria, wine and wildlife is back. Oh God, at Healesville Sanctuary. I think so. Yeah. Yeah, uh it is at Healsville Sanctuary. Saturday, the 29th to the 30th of August. Get down. I've never been. Are there like llamas? What are we working with here in terms of animals?

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Oh, I've worked it. It is a big event. It's crazy. You go through a huge amount of wine because the parents, the kids are entertained, and the parents can come around and do some tastings while their kids. It's yeah, it's basically. Have you been to the sanctuary?

SPEAKER_01 31:47

I have.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Yeah, well, you know, as you walk in, there's this sort of front area. It's the wines are in there, and then people can go to the sanctuary and do the sanctuary things, and then it's just another event. But it is hugely successful. It's been going for years.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

That is a lot of fun. And if you are in South Australia, mould and Pinopalooza 2026.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Oh, they've put mold with it, have they? The cheese one? I believe so. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Uh, if you're in Adelaide, you can still get tickets. It is August 28th, 29th, and 30th. That is a big weekend in wine. End of August.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

August has been a really busy month. It's when all the wine shows are on, you know, August and September, and then there's all these award things to go to, and everyone's promoting their wines because it's a quiet time. The winemakers have got time. They come back from their European vacations.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Uh yes, all tanned.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

You'd hope so. Some of them, not so much.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

I won't be tanning.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

No, do you don't burn though?

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Have you seen me?

unknown 32:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Do we come become the colour again?

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Go from blue to pink. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

You're off for Spain. We won't have uh Meg for a little bit. We've got her for a couple more episodes now, but we will miss her in our next Wine News episode. That is everything from us. Meg, anything you want to say?

SPEAKER_00 32:59

No, I think it's a good time. Go out, drink some great wine, make sure it's Australian wine. That's what I'm drinking at the moment. Much as I love European wine, but let's just promote our our industry and you know, feel happy.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

And you can mix it with Coke if you want to.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Or Coca-Cola.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Cola, cola. Sorry, we're not promoting Coke. I don't like Coke.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

No, you like Pepsi Max?

SPEAKER_00 33:23

I don't like I don't drink any of them? Any of them.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Okay. But you just mix it with wine.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

I just just buy like a generic purestly cola brand because I'm gonna tip half of it out anyway.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

LA Ice. Very good. All right. Well, enjoy your next glass of wine.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

And drink well. Woohoo!