Abbreviation | AFFW |
---|---|
Formation | 2009 |
Headquarters | Australia |
Affiliations | Winemakers Federation of Australia |
Website | www.australiasfirstfamiliesofwine.com.au |
Australia's First Families of Wine (AFFW) is an Australian wine initiative to raise the profile of Australian wine to the world, showcasing a representative of its landmark wines and to highlight the quality and diversity of Australian wine. Established by a collective of twelve multi-generational family-owned wine producers. Together the families represent seventeen wine-growing regions across Australia and forty-eight generations of winemakers. It was officially launched at the Sydney Opera House on 31 August 2009 by Tony Burke, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
The members of Australia's First Families of Wine are:
Inaugural members no longer included: [9]
The main criteria that the family-owned companies need are:
First Families chairman and fourth generation winemaker and Tahbilk chief executive Alister Purbrick stated: "We desperately need to change the global perception of Australian wine. We don't believe as individual companies we can stem the avalanche of news stories about Australia producing nothing but cheap industrial wines. But together we can present a powerful showcase of terrific regional wines of great diversity." Some industry commentators lay the blame for this negative opinion on the giant, publicly listed multinational corporations, such as Constellation Wines and Foster's, which have dominated the industry for years and concentrated on the cheap commodity end of the market rather than building the reputation of Australia's finer, regionally distinctive wines. "While as family winemakers we all value our independence, we do share a common vision - that Australian wine can take on the world's best and win," Purbrick said. [2] [10]
Nowhere else in the world could such a group be assembled, their history told both through the mouths of the family members and the wines they present. The underlying rationale for the formation of Australia's First Families of Wine was the realization that export markets had either lost sight of or had no way of knowing about Australia's rich history, it's diverse regions and wine styles, and the fierce personal commitment of the best winemakers to the production of high-quality wines true to their variety and geographical origin...The challenges for Australia are clear enough. What Australia's First Families of Wine can and will do is turn words into actions, ambitions into concrete results.
— James Halliday, Heart & soul: Australia's First Families of Wine (2010)
The concept is based on similar initiative launched nearly 20 years ago when a group of the Europe's leading family wineries formed an association called Primum Familiae Vini, (PFV abbreviated often, Latin: Best families of the wine), and replicated a few years ago in New Zealand with its Family of Twelve. [13]
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon became internationally recognized through its prominence in Bordeaux wines, where it is often blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. From France and Spain, the grape spread across Europe and to the New World where it found new homes in places like California's Napa Valley, New Zealand's Hawke's Bay, South Africa's Stellenbosch region, Australia's Margaret River, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra regions, and Chile's Maipo Valley and Colchagua. For most of the 20th century, it was the world's most widely planted premium red wine grape until it was surpassed by Merlot in the 1990s. However, by 2015, Cabernet Sauvignon had once again become the most widely planted wine grape, with a total of 341,000 hectares (3,410 km2) under vine worldwide.
Syrah, also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche. Syrah should not be confused with Petite Sirah, a cross of Syrah with Peloursin dating from 1880.
Wrattonbully is a wine region in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia's South East, between the Padthaway and Coonawarra regions, between the Riddoch Highway and the Victorian border.
Yalumba is an Australian winery located near the town of Angaston, South Australia in the Barossa Valley wine region. It was founded by a British brewer, Samuel Smith, who emigrated to Australia with his family from Wareham, Dorset in August 1847 aboard the ship China. Upon arriving in Adelaide in December, Smith built a small house on the banks of the River Torrens. He lived there less than a year before moving north to Angaston where he purchased a 30-acre (120,000 m2) block of land on the settlement's south eastern boundary. He named his property "Yalumba" after an indigenous Australian word for "all the land around". In 1849 Smith and his son Sidney planted Yalumba's first vineyards, beginning the Yalumba dynasty. Today Yalumba is Australia's oldest family-owned winery.
The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy through production, employment, export, and tourism.
De Bortoli Wines is a wine-producing private company based in Australia. Its range of wines includes the sweet white Noble One.
Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard is a family-owned wine company based in Milawa, Victoria, Australia. Brown Brothers was founded in 1889 by John Francis Brown and continues to be owned and operated by his descendants on the original property. Brown Brothers makes wine from a wide range of grape varieties and into a range of styles.
Penfolds is an Australian wine producer that was founded in Adelaide in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia, and his wife Mary Penfold. It is one of Australia's oldest wineries, and is currently part of Treasury Wine Estates.
James Halliday is an Australian wine writer and critic, winemaker, and senior wine competition judge.
Tahbilk Winery is a historic Australian winery with National Trust certification. It is located 120 km (75 mi) north of Melbourne between the townships of Seymour and Nagambie in the Nagambie Lakes a sub region of Goulburn Valley Wine Region. It was established in 1860, and is the oldest family-owned winery and vineyard in Victoria. The winery is part of Australia's First Families of Wine, a prominent Australian wine alliance.
The South Australian wine industry is responsible for more than half the production of all Australian wine. South Australia has a vast diversity in geography and climate which allows the state to be able to produce a range of grape varieties–from the cool climate Riesling variety in the Clare Valley wine region to the big, full bodied Shiraz wines of the Barossa Valley.
Victorian wine is wine made in the Australian state of Victoria. With over 600 wineries, Victoria has more wine producers than any other Australian wine-producing state but ranks third in overall wine production due to the lack of a mass bulk wine-producing area like South Australia's Riverland and New South Wales's Riverina. Viticulture has existed in Victoria since the 19th century and experienced a high point in the 1890s when the region produced more than half of all wine produced in Australia. The phylloxera epidemic that soon followed took a hard toll on the Victoria wine industry which did not fully recover till the 1950s.
Lindeman's is an Australian winery, owned by Treasury Wine Estates. It was founded in 1843 by Henry Lindeman who planted its first vines in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. This original vineyard no longer exists, and the winery now has vineyards in South Australia, in Padthaway and at Karadoc in Victoria, near Red Cliffs. It is considered a mass-producer of reasonably priced, good quality wine.
Howard Park Wines are Margaret River and Great Southern wine specialists and a family-owned winery owned by the Burch family, which is responsible for such brands as Howard Park, MadFish, and Marchand & Burch. With an established winery based in Margaret River, Western Australia and vineyards in the Great Southern, the Burch family are the first Australians to gain ownership in the production of a French Burgundian Grand Cru.
Mountadam Vineyards is a winery established in 1972 and is located in Eden Valley, South Australia within the Barossa wine zone. The winery is particularly known for its Chardonnay wines.
Kingston Estate was established in 1979 by Sarantos and Constantina Moularadellis.
Taylors Wines is a family-owned winery established in 1969 and located in the Clare Valley of South Australia. Taylors is one of the founding members of the Australia's First Families of Wine.
Limestone Coast zone is a wine zone located in the south east of South Australia. It extends south of a line of latitude approximately in line with Cape Willoughby at the east end of Kangaroo Island and it is bounded by the continental coastline and the border with Victoria. It consists of the following wine regions all of which have received appellation as an Australian Geographical Indication (AGI): Coonawarra, Mount Benson, Mount Gambier, Robe, Padthaway, Wrattonbully and a small number of vineyards located outside the above regions. The zone received AGI in 1996.
Casella Family Brands is a family-owned wine company based in Australia. Its most well-known brandname is [yellow tail].
Goulburn Valley wine region is a wine region in the state of Victoria in Australia. It is part of the Central Victoria zone and roughly corresponds to the Goulburn Valley tourist and government region.