Lumen Summer 2013 - Flipbook - Page 13
story by Genevieve Sanchez
The grip
of the grape
As the face of one of Australia’s most iconic brands and it’s
most famous wine, Peter Gago has extended Penfolds and
Grange into every major wine market in the world.
R
espected and admired on the global
stage for his achievements with
fine wines, he was recently voted
by winemaking peers and the Institute
of Masters of Wine and the United
Kingdom’s Drinks Business Magazine, as
the Winemakers’ Winemaker, receiving the
award at the world’s largest annual wine
fair, ProWein in Dusseldorf.
Praised by the judges as an innovative
winemaker who puts heart and soul into
what he does, Peter humbly pronounces
it an award not just for himself, but for his
team and country.
“It’s an award for Australian winemaking
and a lovely thing personally as well,”
says Peter.
“I don’t think we realise in Australia how
big this award is offshore and, in only its
second year, it’s now in Australian hands.”
Neatly deflecting the attention away
from his own accomplishment, Peter
insists that team effort is behind the
success of Penfolds. Rather than talking
about his own achievements, it comes
more naturally to Peter to do what he
loves most – to talk about the wine. And
that’s something he does all over the
world, with a relentless pace that sees him
travelling the globe to engage in public
tastings, visit wine fairs, host masterclasses and speak at high profile events.
“I often say that I’m a wine lover first, a
wine collector second and a winemaker
third.”
“That’s why you work the hours, across
ridiculous time zones, with all of the
peripherals – it’s not a job, it’s a complete
immersion; it’s what you think, do, eat,
drink; it’s completely all consuming.”
As Chief Winemaker and global
marketer, he likens his model in many
ways to the French champenois
who market the unrivalled name of
Champagne, often ahead of promoting
their individual wineries.
“When I’m offshore, it’s all about
Australian wine; naturally, Penfolds
creeps into this but it’s very much an
Australian push.”
This natural flair for public speaking and
educating was developed in Peter’s early
working life as a maths and chemistry
teacher. Discovering a love for wine
around that time wasn’t so much an
epiphany but a slow burn which he refers
to as the “grip of the grape.”
“An interest became a hobby; a hobby
became a collection and then a passion,
which became a career.”
Heading to Roseworthy College at the
University of Adelaide to study Oenology,
Peter claimed numerous awards and
prizes before graduating as Dux of the
course. He still maintains contact with his
classmates and believes passionately in
the importance of building and forging real
relationships over time.
“For the really successful business
people, ‘networking’ is an insidious and
involuntary thing; it’s natural.”
When he’s not travelling the world,
Peter is immersed in the hands-on role
of winemaker, enjoying the opportunity to
sleep in his own bed every night during
vintage and ‘dabbling’ between the
smaller boutique operation at Penfolds
Magill and the much larger Barossa Valley
winery at Nuriootpa.
While many of the exciting and
innovative new wines of recent years have
come out under Peter’s watch, he is also
profoundly respectful of the 168-year
history that precedes him at Penfolds.
“It’s wonderful to have that lovely safety
net beneath, coupled with great passion
and surrounded by great people and a
great culture,” Peter said.
The longevity of loyal team members
attests to that – Peter considers himself a
junior at Penfolds with “only” 23 vintages
under his belt. Through his custodianship
of such an iconic brand, while also
pushing the boundaries of innovation,
Peter will follow other long-serving
colleagues into the pages of Penfolds’
illustrious history as one of Australia’s
great winemakers.
“The most
expensive wine
in the world”
The Penfolds
Ampoule Project is the
ultimate reflection of
winemaking heritage,
innovation and
artistic collaboration
delivering a groundbreaking work of
art encapsulating a
rare and significant
wine, 2004 Block 42
Cabernet Sauvignon.
Find out more at
http://vimeo.com/
penfolds
Left: Peter Gago in the
300-year-old wine cellars
at The Stafford Hotel,
St. James’s, London.
Photo by
Bamboo Marketing
Communications
The University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 11
