Portavin Sydney – open for business

As Australasia’s leading independent wine services provider, Portavin proudly announces its expansion into the New South Wales market, through an agreement with McWilliam’s Wines.

On October 4th, Portavin will assume management of McWilliam’s bottling facility in the Sydney suburb of Chullora, allowing us to service both McWilliam's and other New South Wales/ACT producers.    Our commitment to upgrading the Chullora facility will add another world class contract packaging service to our existing five sites.

Mike Davies, Portavin Executive Chairman explains “This agreement consolidates our ongoing relationship with McWilliam's whilst completing our In Market contract bottling network throughout Australia and New Zealand.”

Eddie Price will be the General Manager of this new site.  Eddie has a strong background in wine industry management, including ten years at Amberley Estate in Margaret River, three years as General Manager of Portavin Victoria and more recently as acting General Manager of Portavin W.A.

Speaking on his new role, Eddie said “I am very much looking forward to the challenge of getting to know the members of the Portavin NSW team better and to learning about the intricacies of the operation.

As a lifelong ‘southern states’ person I guess it will also be my duty to learn the niceties of that funny game where you have to throw the ball backwards when you want to go forwards - but I’m sure that I will find plenty of people keen to help me get over my appetite for ‘Aussie No Rules’ as I believe it is known.  Bring it on!”

To find out more about Portavin Sydney’s services, contact Eddie Price on 0448 121 362 or eddie.price@portavin.com.au

The Big Race….all the wash-up from City2Surf 2011…

Well it was a pretty grey and damp start to the day in Sydney on Sunday 14th August 2011. The Portavin SA management team lined up with 84,994 of our best friends and nervously awaited the starter’s gun to set us off to complete the 14 kilometres City2Surf fun-run to Bondi.

Although they did try to distract us with plenty of spectacular Sydney scenery, all agreed it was a long, hard and gruelling journey (and that was before anyone had had anything to drink!!)

“Heartbreak Hill” certainly tested the commitment levels and there was much relief for all when the slope turned slightly downhill as we ran the final kilometres into Bondi. In the end though, it was a triumphant team effort and we had all made it with much to celebrate (although there was more than one ice-pack and band-aid needed to get the team to lunch, not to mention that Chris needed assistance of a walking frame for the next two days!!)

Well done team…..can’t wait for next year!!!

Supporting the Royal Melbourne Wine Show

Portavin is proud to sponsor this year’s Royal Melbourne Wine Show.  This commitment to Australia’s largest wine show is our way of thanking customers around the nation and showing our support for the wine industry at large.  This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Jimmy Watson Memorial trophy and a range of tastings and events have been organised to mark the occasion.

As part of our affiliation with the Wine Show, Portavin Melbourne undertook the logistics of receiving over 40 000 bottles of exhibitors’ wine, all delivered to us in the space of a week. 

The Royal Melbourne Wine Show was first held in 1884 and   this year sees some exciting initiatives for the show including a Preshow Masterclass, the introduction of some new classes and of course, the celebrations around the 50th presentation of the Jimmy Watson Trophy. 

The show awards dinner will be held on Thursday October 27th.  Good luck to all entrants and hope to see you there.

Meet Amanda Sparke

Amanda Sparke has been the Bottling Operations Scheduler for Portavin SA since December 2009.  She is responsible for the coordination of the bottling schedule and packaging authorisations for clients.

Amanda prides herself on her high-level of attention to detail and dynamic organisational skills, gained through her extensive career in human resource, project and event management.  Amanda explains, “my scheduling role at Portavin has allowed me to combine these skills with my long-term passion for wine.  Not only can I now appreciate a glass of wine but also the process itself from tank to shelf.”

Born in Newcastle, Amanda now calls Adelaide home.  Amanda enjoys being in the outdoors, travelling, cooking and spending quality time with her family and friends.

Bottling and packaging authorisations

A high level of client communication and quality control is achieved through Portavins’ authorisation processes for packaging and wine quality.

Amanda Sparke, Bottling Operations Scheduler coordinates the bottling schedule and packaging & labeling authorisations for clients.  Packaging Authorisations are an integral part of the bottling process.  These forms define all wine, dry goods & packaging requirements for each bottling & can be tailored to suit individual customer needs. Working closely with the customer during this process is imperative to ensure all requirements & instructions are understood prior to bottling.

Whilst the primary focus of this form is packaging, it is also acts as the foundation to ancillary requirements, such as dry goods management, storage and invoicing.

Inevitably there can be is some back and forth in the initial stages of approval but “a no stone unturned” approach ensures a seamless production process and most importantly ensures the final product delivered to our customers is of the highest standard.

For more information, contact Amanda Sparke ops@portavin.com.au

Wine approvals

Wine approvals are equally important, ensuring the wine quality is never compromised.  William Bambacas takes charge of this area and says “Wine approvals are completed once we have taken delivery of the wine and tested for parameters such as free and total SO2, alcohol, CO2, acidity, PH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity.  The results are then sent to the client, who confirms that either they are satisfied with the levels or instruct us to make changes.  If changes are made, we re-submit the approval. The main purpose of the form is to confirm the levels at which the wine went to bottle.  This protects the client and, since we have a NATA accredited laboratory, the winemaker has the comfort of knowing these results are highly accurate.”

For more information, contact William Bambacas william@portavin.com.au