A wine tale that opens up the sluices
A new documentary tells the compelling story of how Wine Australia captured its enviably large slice of the global marketplace.
Written and directed by Stephen Oliver, the doco revisits a story told by Phil Reedman in his first guest blog post on Vino Vitis: “Export – it ain’t easy.”
In both instances, the chronicle charts the “overnight success” of the Australian wine industry – an achievement that, as Phil noted, actually took about ten years of incredibly hard work by a cast of very colourful characters (inveterate scene-stealers, the lot).
After reading Huon Hooke’s review of what sounds like a highly entertaining 60 minutes of strolling through Ozzie wine history, I immediately ordered my own DVD of Chateau Chunder from the EP Independent store. Can’t wait to have a mini-screening with friends – perhaps we’ll pull the cork on that special bottle of “Chateau Rod Laver.”
2 Comments
Ruby, you’ll love it! An important documentary. OK, there are some grim ‘re-inactments’ of Len Evans’ tastings in London but that aside they’ve captured the key points.
Thanks Phil, I look forward to screening Chateau Chunder for friends. I wonder if a similar exploration into the early days of the Kiwi wine export story would be anywhere near as interesting/entertaining?