Meet the Future Leaders of the Wine Industry

Fifteen rising stars from the wine industry have been selected as successful applicants of the 2015 Future Leaders program, run by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA).

Held in partnership with Wine and Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) and the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA), the three bodies were faced with choosing the select fifteen from a record number of applications this year.

Winners of this year’s program are from across the board, including winemakers, grape growers, suppliers, marketers, consultants and off-premise retailers.

Andreas Clark, AGWA CEO said applicants this year are representative of the volume of talent working in Australia’s wine industry.

“There are so many passionate and talented people working in the grape and wine sector, right along the value chain”, Mr. Clark said.

“Collaborating with WGGA and WFA, this leadership program fosters our up-and-coming talent - those individuals who will lead Australian wine in the future.”

The winners are: Jason Amos from Lallemand Australia; Sam Barry - Jim Barry Wines; Nigel Blieschke - Peter Lehmann Wines; Danielle Kennedy - Camperdown Cellars; Angela Brown - All Saints Estate & St Leonards Vineyard; Lilian Carter - Private client winemaker/wine industry consultant; Andrew Calabria - Calabria Family Wines; Christian Dal Zotto - Dal Zotto Wines; James Hook - DJ’s Grower Services; Stuart Hordern - Brokenwood Wines; Tom Keelan - The Pawn Wine Co.; Dave Milne - Josef Chromy Wines; Suzanne Muntz - Xanadu Wines;   Samantha Payne - Consultant Sommelier/freelance wine writer; and Gemma West - Treasury Wine Estates.

The FL2015 group will now go on to embark on a six-month leadership program in June, including four face-to-face sessions across the country, which will each aim to challenge and stretch the participants professionally and personally.

The 2015 future leaders will be encouraged to innovate, collaborate and ‘change the game’ by asking the tough questions and finding transformative solutions for the betterment of the sector.

One of the selected rising stars and the only retailer on the program, Danielle Kennedy spoke to drinks bulletin about what it means to be participating in the program.

“This is a very exciting time for me – it’s a very humbling experience and also very affirming”, Danielle said. “The program has already begun to open up a number of doors for me and so many interesting conversations.”

“It’s so great to be a part of this program - retailers are under represented in a lot of industry organisations and by decision makers, and it’s such a shame because retailers the ones who are engaging with consumers all day, everyday”, Danielle added.

“In terms of wine and the program, I’m concerned that we’re losing the category to others, and so I’d like to see the whole wine industry step up together and do more - really engage people’s imaginations and make wine accessible again. And now to be able to meet the producers, winemakers and viticulturists through the program for example, means that I can gain a much broader insight for my job in understanding what their agenda and visions are and together we can discuss how we can all achieve commercial success.”

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