Ballandean Estate has a rich history of empowered women in wine. Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi was recently voted onto the Winemaker’s Federation board, and is Queensland’s first female voice and vote.
At just 19 years of age, estate matriarch and wine pioneer Mary Puglisi visualised opening a cellar door and being the catalyst for Queensland’s Barossa and Hunter Valley on the Granite Belt with husband Angelo Puglisi. She has spent over 50 years looking after tourists and has won the prestigious Samuel Basset award for her contribution to the Queensland wine industry.
Angelo’s mother Josephine was a true Australian pioneer and business woman. Arriving in Australia from Sicily at just 12 years of age, she went on to build the foundation of Ballandean Estate with her father and husband over four decades. She stared down the Australian army demanding to put her husband and father in internment camps and surrender of farm machinery during World War 2, and instead, she negotiated a deal to supply their crops to feed the Army as an alternative. Inspirational!
Ballandean Estate’s Business and Export Manager Robyn Puglisi-Henderson has developed the export trade from zero to 20% of our business turnover in just five years, and has opened up our export trade to China, where there is significant demand for our premium reds. They just love our Shiraz!
Meet our new vineyard manager Robyn Robertston
Ballandean Estate continues to break new ground with the appointment of a female vineyard manager, Robyn Robertson, former vineyard managed at Sirromet Wines. She brings over 30 years of viticultural expertise to the estate, and has spent her entire life on the land at Ballandean.
I am thrilled to be at Ballandean Estate, the Puglisis have welcomed me into their family. When I heard that there was an opening, the opportunity to learn in the presence of Queensland’s father of wine Angelo Puglisi was just too good to pass up.
Robyn Robertston
Granite Belt wine pioneers
Twisted Gum Wines owner Michelle Coelli has been an outstanding support to the local industry. She’s great to talk to, and runs monthly farm walks at different vineyards. Sue Smith from Pyramid Wines is another Granite Belt woman in the industry I admire.
Robyn Robertston
Why Robyn made the move from Sirromet to Ballandean Estate
Sirromet’s founder Tony Morris was really supportive of the move across to Ballandean and the chance for me to pursue my viticultural passion. One of the Sirromet properties I managed was my family property. I’ve worked on that property for over 20 years, and it was once our family orchard.
Nurturing Ballandean Estate’s Strange Birds™ was another drawcard, as the grapes at Sirromet are mainly traditional varieties. Fiano, Saperavi, Malbec, Durif, Tempranillo, Viognier … so many new challenges! I am most excited about the Durif 2020 vintage—it is such a temperamental Strange Bird™ , as it produces a heavy crop. If we don’t prune enough now, it will over-fruit. Given the drought conditions, it is critical that we prune hard to ensure a low yield of high quality.
Every day is different at Ballandean Estate—I could be pruning, tasting fruit, showing a tour group through our vines, maintaining irrigation lines or running harvest teams. I spend a lot of time with Angelo on the vineyards. Such a privilege to work with a master viticulturist. It is in his blood and mine.
Robyn Robertston
Robyn came on board mid-vintage and experienced a baptism of fire in an incredibly challenging season, with the Girraween bushfires blazing. Her influential position is made even more remarkable when despite gender-equal enrolments in wine and viticulture courses, women make up less than 10 per cent of the wine industry workforce, according to a large-scale Australian study by the Curtin Graduate School of Business, Women in top roles in the wine industry: Forging ahead or falling behind? Representation of women in leadership and senior roles is even smaller.
ENDS
For all media enquiries please contact:
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi or Robyn Puglisi-Henderson
Ph: (07) 4684 1226
Taking Provenance Seriously: Will Australia Benefit from Better Legal Protection for GIs? Colloquium at Bond University on Monday 12 February saw the Granite Belt weigh in to a Geographical Indications (GI) debate with EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan. Organised by the Centre for Commercial Law, the event investigated how the European experience can inform the local debate about more effective protection for local brands and rural communities and was attended by over 80 stakeholders. Image credit: Bond University Newsroom
Fourth-generation vigneron Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi represented Ballandean Estate and the Granite Belt with her insightful presentation on The experience with GIs: Benefits for wine and other industries in a declared GI region.
“Wine drinkers want to know where their wine comes from, and wine producers want protection against competitors who take a free ride on the hard-earned reputation of their unique products. Australia has yet to adopt the EU’s twin GI model for food and wine—as it stands, only the wine industry has registered Geographic Indicators, around 109 at last count,” says Ms Puglisi-Gangemi.
GIs, or geographical indications, identify a product that originates in a specific region where a particular characteristic is attributable to its geographical origin. In Australia, GIs are only applied to wine regions at the moment: 109 Australian wine GIs are already protected in Europe under a longstanding, mutually beneficial agreement sealed in 1994, The GI system is designed to protect the use of the regional name under international law and is governed by the Geographical Indications Committee, overseen by Wine Australia.
European Union Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan is visiting Australia to lay the groundwork for an EU-Australia free trade agreement.
What is the value of Geographical Indication to Granite Belt wine producers?
One of Australia’s most influential women in wine, Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi gets excited when she talks about the value of the Geographical Indication to Granite Belt wine producers.
“We are the Granite Belt and we are proud! Well, it is our sense of place and most producers in the region are proud of the wines being grown and made in the Granite Belt. So much so, that the Granite Belt Wine Tourism association took the notion one step further with the creation of our Strange Bird™ Wine Trail 13 years ago. It is a kind of appellation with strict rules applying to the wineries if they want their wines to be known as Strange Birds™: Wine to be produced on the Granite Belt, Fruit to be grown on the Granite Belt, Fruit must be alternative—representing less than 1% of the total annual crush as prescribed by Wine Australia.
How has Strange Bird™ benefited Granite Belt wineries?
“Today, the Australian wine consumer is ready and willing to taste wines they have never heard of—the rarer the variety the better. Twenty years ago, this was not the case as Australian wine drinkers were not so brave. Consumers today are also willing to pay premiums for such rare finds.
“If your cellar door does not have a Strange Bird™ on the list you are missing out on sales. And with approximately 75% of all wine produced in the Granite Belt sold directly to tourists, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
“Another benefit of trademarking our Strange Birds™ has been renewed enthusiasm by local producer. Vignerons are on the hunt for new varieties to grow in the Granite Belt. This planting frenzy seen our grape growers searching for new varieties that suit our terroir – grapes that grow well in our unique climatic conditions and soils.
“As a result, the Granite Belt has been winning international awards at an exponential rate. So with the success of Strange Birds™ and the potential of our food trail, the importance of our GI cannot be underestimated.
“I tell our cellar door visitors that we make fantastic Shiraz in Ballandean and have done so for 50 years. But in just 14 short years of growing Saperavi in Ballandean we have been named in the top three producers of the world (outside of its native Georgia). From grapes grown on our Ballandean vineyard in the Granite Belt.
Along the Granite Belt’s Strange Bird Wine Trail with Leeanne-Puglisi Gangemi
GIs loom as a sticking point in FTA negotiations next month with Australian producers concerned they could be forced to give up the right to use certain names such as prosecco and feta.
How can GIs bolster rural communities?
But Mr Hogan said GIs were “not one-way traffic”.
“There is a clear potential to extend GI protection to high-quality Australian food products (in the EU),” the Commissioner said.
“I have been told a number of potential Australian candidates for GI protection are on their way, such as King Island dairy products, King Island beef, Tasmanian whisky, Tasmanian lobster, Huon Salmon and Bangalow pork.
“The price obtained by a producer of a traditional product is two-and-a-quarter times the price received for a comparable non-local product.
Mr Hogan said the European experience showed GIs bolstered rural communities and netted higher incomes for producers.
