Chinese thirst drives Randall to buy another vineyard

Chinese thirst for Australian wine continues with Australian wine baron Warren Randall boosting his grape supply for sales to China by purchasing a vineyard in Australia’s largest grape-growing region - the Riverland.

The Randall Wine Group has acquired a 310-hectare property, which includes 86 hectares under vine. The company plans to soon plant additional vineyards on the site, which will produce fruit to fuel booming Chinese sales.

The purchase takes the Randall Wine Group’s holdings to more than 3300 hectares in South Australia, which it says makes it “the largest private, luxury vineyard holder” in Australia’s leading wine state.

RWG last year announced 760 hectares of new purchases in Barossa, 140 hectares in McLaren Vale and further vineyard acquisitions in Langhorne Creek and Currency Creek.

RWG also owns vineyards in the Coonawarra, Clare Valley and Eden Valley regions of South Australia.

The 60-year-old Glen Devlin vineyard in the Riverland is 10km upstream from the town of Waikerie and is principally planted with shairz and cabernet sauvignon.

The Riverland, in the east of the state near the banks of the River Murray, is the nation’s largest grape producing region, contributing about a quarter of Australia’s annual crush.

RWG’s flagship winery Seppeltsfield opened a wine chateau in China in 2017 in a joint venture with Minquan Jiuding Wine Company Ltd.

RWG Executive chairman and proprietor Warren Randall said the Riverland vineyard was acquired to supply the “One Pound Per Acre” brand, one of the fastest-growing Australian wine brands in China.

He said it was the first time the company had bought a vineyard to supply a specific brand.

“All other acquisitions over the last 27 years have been to supply luxury bulk wine supply contracts,” he said.

In the 12 months to June 2019, Australian wine exports to China (including Hong Kong and Macau) reached a financial year record, increasing 7% in value to $1.2 billion.

Australia last year also overtook France to become the number one imported wine category in mainland China by value.

Direct flights launch from Avalon to Bali

Avalon, Melbourne's second airport, is to gain another international airline customer.

Citilink Indonesia will begin flying daily from Melbourne Avalon to Bali from January 24. 

Citilink, which is the low-cost subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia, also flies to Perth from Bali and will fly 178-seater Airbus A320 neo jets on the route. 

It was established in 2001, set up to operate shuttle services between Indonesian cities

"We're excited to be able to make one of Australia's most beloved holiday destinations a more affordable and easier experience," said Avalon Airport CEO Justin Giddings.

"Bali is our most requested international destination and one that we have been actively pursuing for some time."

Avalon Airport only launched its first international scheduled flights a year ago when AirAsia relocated to the airport, and it recently secured flights to Vietnam with fast-growing budget airline Vietjet.

How did one of Australia's leading wine producers crash and burn?

How on earth did that happen? 

The Australian wine industry has been in shock this week at the news that the McWilliams Wines Group - Australia's sixth-biggest wine producer - has gone into voluntary administration. 

McWilliams is a member of Australia's First Families of Wine and has been in business for six generations and 141 years. 

The company's brands include McWilliams, Hanwood Estate and Mount Pleasant and the company has major vineyard holdings in the Hunter Valley and the Riverina. 

KMPG partners Gayle Dickerson, Tim Mableson and Ryan Eagle were appointed this week after McWilliams said a number of factors contributed to the decision and to a decline in business performance.

Dickerson, Restructuring Services Partner for KPMG Australia said: “We are in the initial phase of the administration process where our priority is to undertake an immediate assessment of the business and its operations.

“The company will continue to operate as normal and we are working with the McWilliams’ family with the support of its employees while we work hard to try to preserve one of Australia’s oldest winemakers.

"We are seeking expressions of interest to recapitalise or acquire the group to take this heritage brand forward in the future both locally and globally.

“There are significant wine assets in the Riverina district and the Hunter Valley, long established distribution channels and relationships with global international distributor brands.”

Jim Brayne, a former chief winemaker and chairman of McWilliams Wine Group, said the group will work with the administrators to find a positive outcome for the business.

“We have not made the decision to enter into voluntary administration lightly,” Brayne said. “A number of factors have contributed to a decline in business performance, including evolving structural market dynamics and capital constraints." 

Evolving structural market dynamics is business gobbledygook for "we read the market wrong". 

In addition to having its base in warm regions when cool-climate regions are very much in vogue, McWilliams is also, in my opinion, very old fashioned in its approach. 

In a fashion industry its labels are dreary and its marketing approach has been dismal in recent years. 

The wines made by Jim Chatto and now Adrian Sparks have been very good - and often excellent value - but the brand has been lacking an excitement factor and had hit and miss media relations. That can be fatal in such a competitive marketplace. 

A very staid company that perhaps lived too much on past glories. That's my take, anyway. There may also have been several other factors of which I am not aware. 

The company is also the sole Australian distributor for Champagne Taittinger, Mateus, Henkell and Mionetto. All customers, growers, suppliers and key stakeholders will be contacted directly and a meeting of the creditors of the company is scheduled for Monday, January 20. 

Your secret love's no secret any more

Ever wonder how safe all those details are that you give each time you check into a hotel?

Not safe at all, apparently, as blackmail fears surfaced as a Japanese 'love hotel' booking site was hacked.

A Japan-based hotel platform says it suffered a data breach before Christmas, and apologised to customers for personal data being compromised.

Hotel search engine HappyHotel specialises in short-time 'love hotel' bookings, which are often used for illicit affairs.

Your partner certainly might wonder about that booking between 2pm-4pm. 

And it is feared guests could be vulnerable to potentially damaging blackmail threats, Travel Mole website reported.

The company said data which may have been accessed includes email addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses, date of birth and credit card information.

"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and anxiety that may have caused our customers and other concerned parties," said HappyHotel parent company Almex. "The service has been suspended because we are currently investigating the cause and taking measures."

The company also suspended booking operations for Loveinn Japan, another love hotel search engine.

Almex advised all registered customers to update their password information.

So that's a pretty big oops!

One of Australia's finest resorts to rise from the ashes

Southern Ocean Lodge, one of Australia's finest luxury resorts, was razed to the ground by bush fires last week but the owners have vowed to rebuild and start start again. 

"As you may have seen in the extensive media coverage shared around the globe over the past few days, we are devastated to report that our flagship property Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island has been destroyed in the bush fires that spread with speed and ferocity across the western end of the island on Friday, January 3," said owners James and Hayley Bailey of Baillie Lodges. 

"Fortunately all guests and our staff are safe, which is the main thing. We owe a huge debt of thanks to our amazing team at Southern Ocean Lodge, led by lodge managers John Hird and Alison Heath and their team who together did such an incredible job managing the escalating situation so quickly and effectively. 

"We are also tremendously grateful to the South Australia Country Fire Service whose crews and volunteers worked so hard to protect lives and landscape.

"Buildings, furniture and fixtures can all be replaced; our incredible lodge team cannot and we are truly grateful for this silver lining. Our current focus is on relocating our team and helping them find jobs – ideally within the Baillie Lodges family and the wider Luxury Lodges of Australia collection.

"We've also had a number of other tourism businesses approach us to offer our staff jobs, a real marker of the generosity of the Australian hospitality industry.

"We're very conscious that at this moment of loss, it's not all about us at Southern Ocean Lodge, but about the Kangaroo Island community as a whole, which has suffered losses as a result of the bush fires which reached around 40% of the island.

"We are immediately committed to rebuilding the lodge, and to taking a leading role in whatever ways we can to help rebuild the tourism industry on Kangaroo Island. 

"We have already taken architect Max Pritchard to revisit the site, and happily the original plans for the lodge are still intact. While it's currently too early to estimate a date for re-opening we'd like to reassure everyone that the re-creation of Southern Ocean Lodge is our next focus."

A great deal to watch the fireworks in Perth

Anyone visiting Perth on Australia Day can enjoy million-dollar views across the Swan River and Perth City watching the traditional fireworks from a private balcony at Metro Hotel Perth. 

For those who want to enjoy an easy walk to the Swan River foreshore to see the fireworks, rooms start from $125 per night.

If you want to avoid the crowds on the ground, book a balcony room overlooking the Swan River to from $349 per night for a standard room (floors 3-5) with balcony or $449 for a superior river view room on floors 6-9.

There is complimentary car parking for all hotel guests, and if you book via the website, you'll receive a 20% discount on the cost of breakfast.

Metro Hotel Perth completed a major $14 million redevelopment in 2016, which included a 53-room Aspire Wing along with new entrance, lobby, reception, restaurant, bar and function rooms.

The hotel won a gold medal in the standard accommodation category for the third consecutive year in the 2019 Perth Airport West Australian Tourism Awards and will go on to represent the state at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards to be held in Canberra (smoke permitting) on March 6, 2020.

Metro Hotel Perth is located less than five kilometres from the Perth CBD and 2.5 kilometres to the Crown Perth entertainment precinct. 

For more information visit www.metrohotels.com.au.