I had the rare opportunity, after my last meeting of the day, to visit the Moorebank Estate and taste some of their wines yesterday evening. Moorebank is a small, boutique style vineyard at the address above, and is into sustainable, organic farming. They have a nice location on the lower loop and we were the sole visitors for the time we were there. It was a quiet dusky fall evening and sitting on their front yard I could see kangaroos hopping in the distance. Co-owner Ian Burgess is at once a fiercely passionate and a completely laid back vintner, and I had a fun time with him learning about his wines. This is big Semillon and Shiraz country but he also does some Chardonnay, Verdelho and Gewurztraminer. I tasted a few of their whites; they have an awesome 2006 Chardonnay and a stunning 2003 Late Harvest Traminer. And I had some of their best white, a extremely nicely balanced 2005 Chardonnay with dinner last night. Fantastic wines. In addition, they do brilliant grape sauces.
Back to sustainable organic farming, there is a real growth opportunity here. Speaking with Ian, I learnt that much of his "product positioning" was really into a niche market of people that have allergies. Turns out he sells almost all of his wines by mail list, affording people, that have allergies to the various chemicals that are used in the grape growing and wine making process, an opportunity to try some fantastic wines. That's nice, but as earth awareness grows, and more and more consumers globally get ready to fork out a little more for organically produced food, his "product differentiation" should evolve and organically produced wines could "target market" a broader, more affluent demographic. As a result, I believe there is a real valuation uptick opportunity in this segment. Buying a vineyard, anyone ?
