Rugby Trade Adventure

Yeah, Go the Blacks!

Last weekend Man O’ War hosted some fantastic trade partners from all around New Zealand and a few friends from across the ditch in Australia.

We kicked off the weekend with dinner on the Friday night at one of our key accounts SPQR in Ponsonby, to give the Aussies a taste of kiwi cuisine and check out the Auckland nightlife, later venturing to the Ponsonby Social Club to see our friends Sharr & Chris. A fairly tame night was had by all, as we had a big day planned on Saturday!

First thing Saturday we met at the ferry terminal in downtown Auckland.

We had a fabulous group of trade partners with us for the day including Aaron Winwood from Domaine Wine Shippers, our distributors in Australia, Aaron looks after most key accounts in Sydney city and is also a qualified sommelier.
We also had Simon from Catalina Restaurant in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and Wiremu from Bacash Melbourne. From Auckland we had Sharr, Chris and Rodney from the Ponsonby Social Club, Les Morgan from the Duxton Hotel Group, Francis and Kevin Fitzgerald from Fitzgerald’s Wine, Bill and a few of his friends from the Village Winery and several more keen wine enthusiast.

A very blowy ride over and yet I couldn’t get the Aussies to sit down, a little like the local paparazzi out in force; I was worried we may have lost one of them along the way.

Matt Allen Man O’ War’s Vineyard manager started the day with a tour of our gorgeous property, albeit a touch windy and then down to the winery to meet Duncan McTavish our famed wine maker.

We tried barrel samples and all of the individual components to our 2008 flagship Ironclad Bordeaux Blend, which was an interesting exercise and went down a treat with the wine nerds in the room (which was most of us!).
Back for lunch at Anchorage and another wine tasting of all of our recent releases and homemade venison pie thanks to Guan and Deb!

We loaded onto the ferry for our ride back to Auckland and then straight to the Duxton where Les had organised an incredible spread of food and more Man O’ War wine for the group.

The Rugby... well what a game! Duncan McTavish and his charming girlfriend Vanessa helped me co host the evening and

these photos should sum up the fun that was had and of course the fabulous win from the All Blacks!

After the rugby we piled into cabs and headed to La Zeppa for tapas, more Man O’ War wine and many more laughs!

What an awesome industry we are in and what fabulous friends and partners we have, thank you to everyone!

Victory!

See you soon!
Bronny

Australia

Ahh Sydney, It’s good to be home!From Queensland to my old home of Sydney, sun is shining (as usual) birds a tweeting – yes I possibly miss this city just a little!

My week started with a catch up with the team at Domaine Wine Shippers, my old work colleges and partners in crime. Felicity and Marissa running centre stage as per usual, manning the front office and making sure that everything flowed like clockwork.
As usual it was a pleasure to see Rowland, Bobby (The Hill) and Aaron, the sales team for NSW.

We all managed to get out for dinner to Bird Cow Fish, a fabulous restaurant in Surry Hills of which all of the produce is carefully selected and most local and organic. Peter and Howard from Bird Cow Fish spoilt us rotten and I escaped about 11.30pm, my bed beckoning.

Out in the trade in Sydney I got to catch up with Anthony from The Shop and Wine Bar, a fabulous little hole in the wall near Bondi with an ever evolving wine list, Simon from Catalina, Michael from Kinglseys at Woolloomooloo, Craig from Woollahra Liquor, Phillip from Rose Bay North, The boys from the Ivy, Flying Fish and many more of my favourite spots and customers.

After a flat tack week in Sydney I boarded my plane to Perth, WA to meet the new WA team, Carol and Michael.

No rest for the wicked they say and this certainly was the case in WA! Carol and Michael had me with back to back meetings with customers, it was Man O’ War’s first time out in the market in Western Australia and wow what a great response!

I met some fantastic people and ate at some first class establishments, such as Must and Balthazar. We visited Steve’s, a new restaurant and fine wine bottle store/deli, I met Patrick from Frasers Restaurant which has incredible views over Perth, and this restaurant is an institution.
We visited Charles from Just Tapas, who has a smart little wine list and who was a huge fan of Man O’ War, Vince at Galileo, Hans from Gala, who is now pouring both the Man O’ War Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris and the lovely Caroline from Amuse, Amuse has just taken out a ‘Best Restaurant’ Award in Perth.

This was my first time out in the trade in Perth and this city is just gorgeous, lining the Swan River it has top class restaurants and I met many other wonderful people within the food and wine industry.
WA may be on the other side of the county and stuck out on its own, but the food and wine industry is certainly thriving, this City has huge potential and I will certainly be back soon!

Back home to the City of Sales..

See you soon,

Bronny

Sneak Peak in UK

100 lucky people had a sneak preview of our Man O’ War wines, Pinot Gris 2008, Syrah 2008, Merlot Cabernet 2008 last week with Toby Hope (above) from Wig and Mitre in Lincoln, UK. Toby has been a huge supporter of our wines since he first met us at the London International Wine Fair in May and even introduced us to our new importer, Stokes Fine Wines. We look forward to catching up with everyone in September when Duncan & Sara head to the UK to launch. More details to come soon!

Out in the trade in Queensland

I spent two ‘jam packed’ fantastic days with the Domaine wine Shippers team in Queensland. Out on the road with an ‘oldie’ but a goodie, yes that’s you Evan and gee he worked me hard!

Starting in Maroochydore our first stop off was to see Tony Cox from The Wine Bar. Tony writes the lists for several restaurants on the Sunshine Coast and also writes a few wine columns here and there, a charming fellow with a sharp wit. The Water Front Restaurant is looking at showcasing Man O’ War/Waiheke Island in the coming months, which we are very excited about!

On to visit Dion at The Boat Shed and further up the coast to visit Seasons Restaurant in Noosa, Seasons is a gorgeous spot of which I have attended a few weddings!

Down the road to the River House Restaurant, another gorgeous Venue we met Tim Watson, a long time friend of Evans and a bit of a name on the coast. Several more stop offs and it was time to make my way back down to Brisbane.

On our way home we popped in to meet Rick Travers from the Yandina Hotel, the Yandina is under going an over haul and will be fabulous once finished. Rick is a keen wine drinker and was very excited about the Ironclad Bordeaux Blend!

The following day I had the pleasure of meeting the rest of the Queensland DWS sales team consisting of John K, Isaac Curgenven and the lovely Tara Britain. I spent several hours presenting Man o’ War to them, steering clear of the dull wet day outside.

While in town I ventured out to Philip Johnsons e’cco Restaurant, a great DWS account in which we were spoilt rotten! Afterwards we checked out 'Cloud 9' a new hip and happening night spot in Brisbanes New Farm, a little like The Ivy in Sydney, incredible decoy!

Short and sweet and now on to a fun filled week in gorgeous Sydney!

See you soon,

Bronny.

Out in the trade in Aussie!

Melbourne

A brisk walk around South Bank started my day, and brisk it really was at 6 degrees! Beats Auckland at a mere 2 degrees.

Breakfast with the lovely Jennie May from Domaine Wine Shippers our Australian wine Distributor's and a good strong coffee at City Wine Shop was in order, Melbourne really has the best coffee!

The City Wine Shop is both a retail wine store and a wine bar, they also own The European Restaurant, which is situated right next door along with The Supper Club and Roof Top Bar.

We later visited Travis and Kate from Coda Restaurant, Coda has been open for just two weeks and is already booked solid for the next two months! Travis, Coda's wine expert and Kate Coda's front of house lady, have both come from Taxi Dining Room, an institution in Melbourne City. Travis and Kate were both fans of Man O' War wine loving particularly our Pinot Gris, Valhalla Chardonnay and our Dreadnought Syrah!

On to Seamstress another highly rated Melbourne restaurant in Lonsdale Street.

Melbourne's Chinatown has a new designer kid on the block, Seamstress has the funked-up Asian food and cool cocktail scene all stitched up. I met the fabulous Lori Smith at Seamstress and we samples through the Man O' War collection together, Lori being a fan of many.

When the staff meal came out I was hoping they wouldn't notice me slip a plate onto the counter and join them. I thought best not as I had a table booked at Momo restaurant in Colin's street and I had to bribe Jack , Momo's sommelier and a huge supporter of Man O' War to get us a table!

Arriving on time for my reservation at Momo, with a couple of Man O' War bottles hidden in my purse for Jack and Bradley Momo's manager, I was relieved to get settled inside and away from the cold Melbourne evening. An incredible dinner, followed by several gorgeous bottles of wine and impeccable service, Momo really is an experience. After dinner we made ourselves comfortable next door at Spice Market. Spice Market and Momo have the most incredible interiors, no expense was spared here and their wine lists are world class. It was great to see Ewan from Guillaume Bennelong, who popped in to share a bottle of wine with us.

While in Melbourne I also had time to see Mark from the Botanical in Domain Road and have a bite to eat with Kyri from No 35 a fabulous new restaurant in the Sofitel Melbourne.

It was great to spend some time with the Domaine Wine Shippers family, meeting Howard and making it out to head office (after getting very lost!) to meet with Gary, Yvonne, Damien and the lovely Melinda Steel. Anita, Michelle, Melanie and the team were on top form as usual!

Domaine wine Shippers is one of the biggest and best wine distribution companies in Australia. The whole Steel family work in the wine industry and most of them for the family business, they are all avid wine lovers and have a passion for French wine, legend has it Gary has one of the best cellars in Australia under his house!

After a fantastic week in Melbourne I am off to spend time with Evan and meet the rest of the DWS Queensland team.

See you soon,

Bronny