This week’s column – even in its extended form posted today, and covering more
ground than the article printed in the Weekend Australian Magazine – is as
notable for what it does not say as it is for the words in the article.
For
while Tony Smith’s pioneering work in Mount Barker was on the other side of
Australia, and the early years did not entirely match my endeavours, we were –
and remain – driven by near-identical aspirations, and are both left with
bitter-sweet legacies.
At
the celebration dinner he recounted how ‘The first vineyard I had ever had
anything to do with was my own, the first winery likewise.’ When I and two
lawyer friends paid the princely sum of $10,000 for a four-hectare block of
acidic clay and straggly ironbarks and spotted gums in the Hunter Valley in
1970, we knew what vineyards were supposed to look like, and had seen inside a
few wineries.
When
we crushed our first vintage of one tonne of shiraz and (two weeks later) half
a tonne of cabernet sauvignon in 1973, we had a hazy idea about the theory, but
no practical experience of winemaking. Tony Smith’s crop of half a tonne of
each of shiraz and cabernet from the Bouverie Vineyard had been packed in
wooden banana boxes and delivered to Dorham Mann in the Swann Valley for
fermentation in the bottom of a concrete tank.
It
was the next year that he learnt of the existence of a disused apple packing
shed, and two-and-a-half acres of weed-infested surrounding land in the middle
of the Mount Barker township. Elders Stock & Station had the property for
sale at $12,000, and Tony Smith’s response was ‘Done.’ The purchase completed,
the local Apex Club removed the weeds, helped clean up and repair bits and
pieces of the shed, and Plantagenet was open for business.
Our
paths crossed many times over the ensuing years, mainly, but not always, in
Mount Barker. In 1984 he convened the inaugural meeting of The Australian
Winemakers Forum in the Melbourne offices of my law firm, Clayton Utz. The
Forum was formed to represent and protect the interests of small family-owned
wineries. It was ultimately absorbed into the Winemakers’ Federation of
Australia, having succeeded in its aim.
In
early 1988 Coldstream Hills, which had been founded by my wife Suzanne and
myself, became a small listed company on the Stock Exchange, taking our
ownership down from 100% to 51%, but providing the capital to double the size
of the vineyard (with an existing second house) and complete the building of
the winery. At the back of my mind I envisaged a management buy-out when the
business was fully established, but when wine market prices collapsed in
1991/1992, we were forced to raise additional capital for Coldstream Winemakers
Limited, but weren’t able to participate in the rights issue. Consequently, our
share fell to less than 30% of the issued capital.
In
1992 part of the privately owned Plantagenet Wines share capital was acquired
by Lionel Samson and Son, Western Australia’s oldest family owned business,
leading to further sales of the next seven years until, in 1999, Tony Smith was
the only remaining minority shareholder. This left him without a viable
position, so in that year he sold his shares to Samson, but became Chairman of
the Board of Plantagenet Wines. Two years ago Samson took sole management
control, leading to Smith’s resignation as Chairman.
In
1996 Southcorp Wines launched a takeover offer for Coldstream Hills; after much
discussions and negotiations, my wife Suzanne and I decide we should accept the
offer, thus leaving me without any proprietary interest. For some years I was a
group winemaker within Southcorp, with responsibilities for Coldstream Hills,
Devil’s Lair and the Hunter Valley trio of Lindemans, Tulloch and Hungerford
Hill, but in 2000 fell back into a formal (by exchange of letters) consultancy
agreement for Coldstream Hills.
Tony
Smith and I respectively have strong emotional bonds for ‘our babies’. My
feelings about Coldstream Hills, and pride in its achievements, are exactly the
same today as they were when Suzanne and I were the 100% owners of the
business, then 51%, then under 30%. I am privileged to conduct all my general
wine tastings for the Wine Companion in the winery, and Suzanne and I own the
house high on the hill above House Block Chardonnay (planted 1985) and G Block
Pinot Noir (planted 1988).
I
believe Tony Smith’s attitude to Plantagenet is much the same, contract or no
contract.
Part 2 of this post will be published on Tuesday 12 November
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