The changing fortunes of two of Australia’s most prominent wine personalities threatened to overshadow Wine Australia in Sydney in June. Within 24 hours of each other, both Len Evans and James Halliday confirmed the take-overs of their respective wine companies, Rothbury by Fosters (owner of Mildara Blass) and Coldstream Hills by Southcorp. Both have emerged in good shape. Evans is better off by as much as $5 – 10 million, depending who you talk to, while Halliday says he has the better half of the deal that has seen him remain at Coldstream Hills as Southcorp’s Chief Winemaker, Yarra Valley. No-one is capable of spending his richly deserved millions better than Evans, who will continue his consultancies to Qantas, Vintage Cellars and Liquorland, will expand Evans Family Wines (excellent news for drinkers of serious chardonnay) and has also established The Evans Wine Company to export wine to the UK, Holland, Sweden and Switzerland. His old mate and former Rothbury CEO, Dennis Power, has taken up his customary position as the implementer of various Evans strategies. Evans is on the verge of releasing other news about another wine production venture and is taking bookings for his wine masterclasses, which he conducts with typical flair and genius. Evans can be booked through Celebrity Speakers in Sydney. He presently refuses to write about wine again, but is contemplating a wine novel. James Halliday says that his role at Coldstream Hills will not alter much with its new ownership and says the existing winery team will be solely responsible for all style, winemaking and blending decisions. Halliday, who is quite possibly the oldest winemaker ever recruited by Southcorp, is keen to stress that he will not be involved in the production of other Southcorp wines and that Coldstream Hills wines will retain their Yarra Valley origins. A full interview with James Halliday will follow in the next issue.
