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The Peacock Podcast
peacock_conversation_part1.mp3	In this part of our conversation we hear about the great Tassie wine substitution scam of the 70s. We spend time on the 'brand' that is Tasmania.  We then explore Fred's history with the Tassie wine industry and hear about exporting wine into South East Asia.  Fred tells us why he is happy to mentor other people who are his competitors. We then discuss how good New Zealand is at marketing and promoting their wine.  We ask Fred why people should buy Tassie wine and we finish by discussing how well the Tasmanian wine industry has met the 10 year goals it set itself back in 1996.
peacock_conversation_part2.mp3	In this part we move away from the industry and start to focus on Bream Creek wines.  As we drink it Fred takes us through the characteristics of his 2005 Gewurtztraminer, explains why it is his favourite variety and why he won't be growing it anymore. Lastly  we spend a bit of time discussing why the relationship between a winemaker and viticulturalist is critical and finding out what characteristics Fred looks for in a winemaker.

Fred Peacock - Been there, done that - well nearly anyway.

Fred Peacock. Can you remember the first Tasmanian wine you ever drank?  If you live in Southern Tasmania there is a very good chance that it was from Bream Creek.  Mind you, if you live in Melbourne, Sydney, Sweden or Canada your answer may well be the same.  There is no doubt that Bream Creek has been a 'player' within the Tasmanian wine industry for a long period so you can imagine how excited we were that Fred Peacock had agreed to come and have a chat.  Not only that, but he agreed to travel to the Winepunters engine room.  When you produce a website on a nil budget, any saving on petrol, especially at current prices, is a big thing.

If you have listened to our past conversations you may well think that we can't do a serious 'interview'. Well we think the conversation with Fred will change your mind.  When he ventured into the Winepunters engine room for a chat with PJ and 'Please Don't Name Me' a very serious, informative and interesting conversation unfolded.  Settling down to chat it didn't take long for us to be amazed at the extent of Fred's knowledge and understanding of the winemaking process.

This shouldn't have come as a surprise since Fred has been involved in the Tasmanian wine industry since the mid 70's and has had almost every job the industry has to offer.  In addition to all the normal tasks you would expect, he was involved in 'raiding' unscrupulous people who were trying to pass off dodgy mainland wine as Tasmanian (for shame, for shame - Ed).  The big question we forgot to ask was what happened to all that confiscated wine?  Did it end up at Fred's place?  Did he have a rash of great parties and BBQ's ? If so, why weren't we invited? (is that the faint waft of scandal I smell? - Ed)

 
Farewell to the Gewurtz? Initially we concentrated on his industry experience and we asked him about how Tasmania is going with it's attempt to export wine into Southeast Asia.  While progress is frustratingly slow he has experienced some amusing incidents due to the cultural differences in that part of the world.  We have a lot of sympathy for those plucky Tasmanians who found themselves spending time pitching their wine to someone who may well have been the janitor rather than the CEO and those trying to hold a wine tasting where, on religious grounds, no one could drink - as our guru Homer Simpson would say "D'oh".

Prior to our conversation we had heard a number of people who had praised Fred for his willingness and ability to act as a mentor for other members of the industry.  We were curious about a 'businessman' helping his 'competition'. When we put this to him, Fred replied that it makes sense for everyone to help each other to reach and maintain the highest possible quality until the Tasmanian wine industry reaches an economic critical mass. As he says - no quality no future.

The Schonburger

Talking about 'competition' it was fascinating to hear Fred describe how the New Zealand wine industry markets it's product.  Fred's admiration about the Kiwis was palpable and, despite our poor attempt at humour, we have to acknowledge that New Zealand provides a clear example of how to go about the promotion and marketing of wine.

We like to ask people who are involved in the wine industry why a punter should buy Tassie wine and we often get the 'oh it's a quality product' response.  This is, of course, a true and sensible answer but Fred went further and talked about how well the 'style' of Tasmanian wine matches with food.  Just a warning, beer lovers may not enjoy this part of the conversation as much as wine lovers.

Given Fred's extensive industry experience we wanted to ask him about the planning behind the industry and we had found a copy of the 1996 Strategic Plan.  What fascinated us was the opportunity to look at what people were thinking back then and to see how well the industry had done in meeting the goals they had set themselves.  This may sound a little dry but Fred has the ability to explain most things in an interesting manner and this was no exception.

Update from the second part

This part is probably our favourite because we concentrated on Bream Creek wines themselves.  Prior to the conversation we purchased a bottle of 05 gewurztraminer from Bream Creek.  By chance this happened to be Fred's favourite variety so we asked him to take us through the pros and cons of this wine.  If you like white wine his explanation was fantastic and he certainly convinced us to drink more Bream Creek gewurztraminer while we can still get it.

If you want to know why we would say that here is some of what Fred said about this variety. "Its got the most amazing match with food, its got a lovely freshness about it, it's spicy at the same time, it's got a lovely mouth feel, its silky but more interestingly it has the most amazing ageing potential" (nuff said - Ed).  He went on to describe what happens to the taste of a gewurztraminer as it ages.  It sounded like it behaves in a similar manner to Pinot in that it has a 'flat spot' at about 2 years but it comes back and can be 'stunning' after 20 years.

Despite the obvious charms of gewurztraminer Fred laments the fact that it has been overrun by varieties like sauvignon blanc.  Part of the reason for this is that many people find it harder to pronounce and even the spelling can trip people up (PJ should know - he got it wrong in the podcast and misspelt it in this article- Ed).  Fred got so incensed at the way gewurztraminer was being pronounced and spelt he even changed the label for one vintage so it said Traminer. Yes, Fred knows that Traminer is a different variety to gewurztraminer but you can understand his frustration.

The gewurztraminer

Unfortunately the Bream Creek vineyard is located in an area of Tasmania that means a variety like gewurztraminer can not be produced in sufficient quantity or consistent quality to make money. As a result he has ripped out those vines and replaced them with sauvignon blanc.  So if you want to try his gewurztraminer you had better hurry.

Based on what we had learned about Fred's experience and knowledge it seemed appropriate to ask why he doesn't make his own wine.  The answer comes down to the economics of the wine industry in Tasmania with its relatively large number of small owner operated vineyards.  As Fred points out "its very difficult to be everything, so if you are trying to be the business principle, work in the field, do the advertising, do the accounting and also have some input into the style of the wine then its very difficult to be the hands on winemaker".  In addition it costs a lot of money to set up and run a winemaking operation so it makes sense to use a contract winemaker.

Given this situation we wanted to explore the relationship between the vineyard owner and the winemaker. We had seen a documentary about the French wine industry which showed that some winemakers had a 'master' 'servant' relationship with their vine growers and we were pretty uncomfortable with all the forelock tugging that this created. We wanted to know if having primadonna winemakers was good for the industry.  Being a true Aussie Fred retorted "no its a disaster for the industry".  In fact the process of treating the winemaker as some sort of wizard and simply dropping your fruit off at the winemaking plant and waiting for the 'award winning' wine to be produced had been dispensed with in Tasmania at least a decade ago.

wine in the making

Having settled that we wanted to know what characteristics you look for in a good winemaker.  The key, according to Fred, is having a real partnership between the winemaker and vine grower.  Simply being a skilled winemaker is not enough, what's necessary is an understanding of the whole process. Fred wants his winemaker to give advice on viticulture issues as well as take advice on winemaking issues.  As a result Fred and his winemaker (Julian Alcorso - Winemaking Tasmania) spend their time getting the right wine 'style' rather than debating technical issues.  So far this partnership has worked extremely well and is obviously based on mutual respect.   
  

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