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Wine Families Just Trying to Keep It Real

By Saturday 1 April 2017April 5th, 2020No Comments
Yalumba

Families keep it real in wine.

They bring warmth, integrity and a sense of fair play to a ruthless game where boundaries aren’t so much being pushed as bulldozed. Families also bring humour; they are funny at the best of times, but for a real laugh, add wine, agriculture, a kitchen table and a GFC.

This week Robert Hill Smith had a crack at the corporates that own brands masquerading as family owned. Accolade was mentioned in the piece. Robert said: “I’m really sick of the latest trend for corporate misuse of the term ‘family’ when promoting wine brands that were sold by the family founders eons ago and conning wine loving consumers and trade alike.” Ouch! RHS is a mild-mannered gentleman with three young daughters like Ross, but mess with the concept of family and he’ll fly off the handle like Nick Ryan’s jacket flew off his flagpole.

Yalumba is part of the First Families of Wine, one of the great wine marketing initiatives. I don’t think we’ll ever stamp out bullshit brands, but those who peddle them are on notice. Maybe the corporates and family wineries can sort out their differences in the front bar of The Family Hotel. Bring your own pizzas, however, because these days they clean the glasses after every drink.

Eileen Hardy

The beautiful photo above is of Eileen Hardy. It was used in an invitation we received this morning for a celebration of 30 years of Hardys Eileen Hardy Chardonnay.

Have you seen an example of a corporate wine label pretending to be family one? Email here.

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