A group of more than 60 journalists had the opportunity to sample Australian wines at Sassafraz Tuesday during a media luncheon designed to showcase gift ideas for the holidays. “The main idea behind the event is to introduce the wine media—but especially the non-wine media that has an interest in lifestyle, travel, culture, and food and wine in general—to what Australia has,” said Wine Australia's Canadian market development manager, Geoff McFadzean.
“Australia is really well known for Chardonnay and Shiraz—they have really driven the market for a long time and we do an excellent job on those wines—but this is an opportunity to show a few different blends at all price ranges,” he said. “It gives an opportunity for media to look at wines that might go into a gift guide or do some food and wine pairing articles for Christmas meals.”
McFadzean worked with Communications MECA to plan the event, which featured close to 70 varieties of Australian wines. Four displays included sparkling wines deemed suitable for celebrating, gift ideas for under the tree, options for stocking your cellar, and a number of reds.
“Most people buy Australian wine and drink it pretty quickly, but we have an opportunity to show people some wines that you can cellar for up to 20 or 30 years,” McFadzean said. “It shows the whole range of Australian wines, from the top end with long cellaring potential all the way down to innovative wines that are great to drink on a patio on the summer or with Christmas dinner and around the fireplace in the winter.”
Wine Australia chose Sassafraz for the event, the first of its kind, due to the restaurant’s central location and reputation as a “quality venue,” McFadzean said. “It's got lots of open space, it's got lots of windows, and they do a great job on the food, too. They're very easy to work with.”
The restaurant served a buffet-style lunch that included turkey and stuffing. “We [chose] an actual Christmas dinner so people can see what wines pair well with turkey. We've got some grilled shrimp—as the Australians do—and we've got some Australian lamb, too,” McFadzean said.
