Thirsty China

Portavin has seen a spike in the number of clients exporting wine to China over the last 12-18 months. According to Austrade, bulk wine exports to China increased by 51% last year while bottled wine increased by 24%. Portavin has been able to assist our clients in finding an export market for excess wine, as we field regular enquiries from companies exporting to China – and they like the convenience of Portavin putting the whole package together. As well as bottling and packaging, containers can be packed onsite at Portavin, then delivered to the wharf with required documentation.

In line with this increased volume of wine being exported to China, we’ve noticed a return to bottling under cork. The Chinese market is very traditional, and continues to favour the cork closure. The amount of wine sealed under cork at Portavin Melbourne is still a small percentage of our overall production, however the segment is growing and is noticeably more active than it has been for a number of years.
 

Distributor visit

One of our clients, Two Eights, included Portavin in a tour around Australia for their Chinese distributors to visit suppliers of their brand. Around 40 guests spent several hours inspecting our Cheltenham facility, taking an incredible number of photos and film footage as part of a documentary to be shown in China.

Portavin felt this was a great way to involve distributors in what goes on “behind the winemaking scenes” and welcome you to do the same. Contact us to find out more. admin@portavin.com
 

Small batch gravity filling

One of the benefits of doing business with Portavin is our flexibility with special requests. Recently, a client approached us to bottle a wine that had been made with minimal intervention. The request was to gravity fill a 1,000 litre batch of wine. To achieve this unusual request we raised the tank, ran the wine through a screen filter and let gravity do the work. Naturally this was slower than pumping the wine to the filler. The customer was extremely pleased that his small batches could be handled so delicately, with minimum losses of super premium wines.

Contact Gavin Wade (pictured right) if you would like to find out more about small batch filling. gavin.wade@portavin.com
 

London Calling

Ian Matthews (pictured right) and foundation partner Kym Hooper recently spent time in London, calling in on Berry Bros and Rudd, Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant, who has traded from the same shop for over 300 years. The company has a contract with Virgin Atlantic to supply wine for in-flight services and Portavin, as one of their preferred suppliers, has bottled Australian wine into 1 litre PET on their behalf. The purpose of the recent visit was to discuss ongoing opportunities not only for PET but for conventional packaging.

Ian explains “We are confident we can continue our valued relationship with Berry Bros and Rudd, using our customer base to source bulk and branded wines.”
 

International winners

Portavin congratulates the following clients in their recent success at International Wine Shows. At the 2011 Decanter World Wine Awards, gold was awarded to Wirra Wirra for their 12th Man Chardonnay 2010.

At the 2011 International Wine Challenge, touted as the world’s largest wine show, Australia achieved a remarkable medal strike rate of 83 percent, a great boost for the international quality perception of Australian wines. Well done again to Wirra Wirra for an IWC gold medal for the Woodhenge Shiraz 2009, as well as to Campbells for their Rutherglen Muscat.

Special congratulations to Harcourt Valley Vineyards who won IWC gold with the Sightings Cabernet Shiraz 2008. Portavin’s Ian Matthews fondly remembers helping founders John and Barb Livingston make their first wines in the early 1990’s and is pleased they have received international recognition for their efforts.
 

Staff news

Sports day
On Friday May 20th Portavin Melbourne held its inaugural Staff Sports Day, which will be held every three months from hereon. Cheltenham Golf Club was the venue for our Golf Day, with teams randomly drawn from 24 staff across all departments. We had a brilliant day out, with Gary, Ruth, Savas and Gavin winning – and the booby prize for the shortest legitimate T off going to Denise. The lunch after play was delicious and overall, this was a great way for staff to get to know each other away from work.

Portavin babies
Congratulations to Portavin staff member, Jean Glass and her husband Alex, on the arrival of Joshua in January. Another staff member, Kristy Hayman and husband Ian also welcomed their baby boy, Lewis, in April. Both babies have recently visited Portavin to meet us and we can report that all is going well for these families.

Resident cricket champ
Chris O’Brien, Portavin’s Customer Service Officer, has done it again, winning Cricket Victoria Player of the Year, this time in 3rd X1. Chris previously won this award for 4th X1, making him the first person to win in two different grades at the Ringwood Cricket Club.
Chris has been playing cricket since he was 8 years old, progressing to premier cricket when he was just 16. Chris explains that one of his career highlights was net bowling with the Sri Lankan and Indian international sides, playing with some of the world’s best in 2005. Chris will resume his captain role later this year (having taken a break to welcome his first child, Kitty) and is also a fast bowling coach for his club.

As Portavin’s Customer Service Officer – Production, Chris deals with all onsite production work such as putting specs together, collating dry good requirements for the bottling and dealing with suppliers to procure dry goods. Chris says “I love thinking on my feet, solving things quickly and getting results.” Sounds like his approach to cricket and work have a lot in common!