Bruce Kemp, who has overseen the internationalisation of Southcorp Wines and the attainment of its pre-eminent status within the Southcorp company over his seven and a half years at the helm, has pulled off one of the great surprises in Australian wine by announcing his intention to call it a day. He’s been at Southcorp for 29 years in total, working also in the appliance and packaging aspects of the company’s business. Fifty-six years of age, Kemp intends to spend more time on his motorbike and assisting medium-sized Australian wineries develop export opportunities. He’s given plenty of notice, but Mildara Blass’ dynamic Managing Director, Ray King (above), also hands in his spurs at the end of this calendar year, retiring his post on December 31. It’s been a great year for Fosters Brewing, with its fully owned wine subsidiary performing like a thoroughbred. Soon we’ll see how much of its performance can be attributed to King himself. He’s to be replaced in the saddle by Terry Davis, a former Managing Director of Cellarmaster Wines. While some of his actions may not have endeared him to the wine purists, few could deny King his place in the modern history of Australian wine. When in 1982 he commenced with Mildara Wines it employed a mere 170 people. Today Mildara Blass employs 2,900 people globally and even before it became a fully-owned subsidiary of Fosters Brewing it redefined the level of returns the wine industry should provide for its stakeholders. Indeed it would be possible to argue that King has done more than any Australian to give people the confidence to invest in our wine industry. Mildara Blass has also been rocked by the news that successful and talented Yarra Ridge/St Huberts/Baileys winemaker Rob Dolan has jumped ship to participate the new venture of Lenbridge Forge, whose Yarra wines are marketed under the new YarraHill label. See page 15 for details of the excellent new 1998 Chardonnay.
