Sunday, October 4, 2009

On the road again ...

I made a last-minute decision to postpone my European buying adventure and do an Australian selling adventure instead.

I packed the car with new-bought eskies (one holds 36 bottles and stays cool for days and the other holds about 12 bottles and runs on mains or car power) and set off after two hours' sleep for steamy Brisbane. Remarkably painless drive and even managed to make a few phonecalls via Bluetooth. Fair bit of roadworks but not too many delays.

After catching my breath in Brisbane I set off for Noosa and knocked on plenty of doors to see if anyone there wanted to drink decent wine over summer. Some said they had already done their summer shopping, others didn't have space, and others promised to order. If I was going there for a week, I would have eaten at Sails at Noosa Heads, the River House, Wasabi and Ricky's at Noosaville. Sails has several cellars and would be your best bet for a decent wine list.

Made contact with several contenders at Maroochydore, Mooloolaba and Caloundra and emailed the catalogue and pre-arrival offer to 20 or more potential customers.

Then I hit Brisbane with very little time to organise anything. I started by sending out an email to every restaurant and retail address I had in town, and soon had appointments at Aria Brisbane, Wine Emporium, Cru Bar, Drinx/Grand Central Cellars, Festival Cellars, Bar Alto, Stewarts Wine Co, Enoteca 1889, Bar Barossa and Nectar.

Aria already has the 93 Zilliken spatlese and 06 Dupont-Tisserandot Fixin on its list but really needs much more red and white Burgundy, so I hope they buy up soon.

Tony Harper at WE seemed impressed with many of the wines and hopefully they will expand their Eurocentric offerings. Cru already take a few wines, namely Willi Schaefers and Alex Gambals (which they reordered), as well as Alluviale, Dada, Rene Geoffroy champagne and now the Benfield & Delamare bordeaux blend from Martinborough -- their first outlet in Australia!

Grand Central went for Dombeya shiraz and the bordeaux blend, and the Champagne Gallery ordered Henri Billiot as a Christmas treat for their loyal supporters.

Bar Alto boss Simon Hill is renovating his Isis Brasserie and relaunching with a new look and feel before Christmas and I am very hopeful of getting a good range of German riesling and gewurztraminer there, as well as the gorgeous Redoubt Hill pinot gris.

Better not jump the gun but I think Brisbane wine lovers will be able to find other Eurocentric wines in several other retail outlets soon.

WA has been going great guns through the agency Terra Wines, and after a week of driving through the Gold Coast, Byron, Coffs Harbour and Newcastle, I will seek to spread the love throughout NSW to Canberra, then Melbourne and Adelaide.

I'm counting on it all going well enough that I can sneak over to Europe in November.

I've also added a post on the www.eurocentricwine.com.au site showing the shipping movements expected over the next few months.

Redoubt Hill should be in the warehouse next week, about the time the new Dombeya wines set sail from Durban (I ship from there to avoid going through Singapore and a double equator crossing).

My focus now is on some quick sales to clear some space and raise money for three more containers planned from France and Germany. Sales have been going well for the first one, heavy on 07 Burgundy, with our two Chablis producers and two Beaujolais domaines to make their debuts, and David Leclapart's first 20 cases of champagne for Australia finally to get on board.

It's hot here in Brisbane. Perfect weather for Hawke's Bay sauvignon blanc or German riesling. And now I'm thirsty!