Manjimup winemaker Mark Aitken is the primary to confess he has little curiosity in considerably scaling his family-owned enterprise Woodgate Wines.
As an alternative, Mr Aitken is placing all his deal with sustaining his standing as a small batch producer and maker of artisanal wines.
“For us, it is a life-style enterprise and we’re not thinking about simply rising for the sake of rising,” Mr Aitken mentioned.
“We maintain it a dimension that we are able to handle in order that it offers us with an earnings and retains me gainfully employed.”
Mr Aitken mentioned he went down a “standardised pathway” when he first took over Woodgate Wines in 2017 together with his companion Tracey by organizing distribution networks in Perth and Sydney.
However the couple discovered because the enterprise began to develop and gross sales elevated, the smaller revenue margins grew to become.
“The expansion issue means you’re plowing a whole lot of your income again into your corporation,” Mr Aitken mentioned.
It compelled them to chop out all the center males, cut back manufacturing from about 50 tonnes to 15 tonnes a yr, and promote on to the shoppers.
About 60 per cent of Woodgate Wines’ gross sales are actually direct-to-customer by its cellar door and on-line retailer.
“What we have discovered is that much less is extra, we are able to nonetheless make a dwelling out of it however now I do not work as onerous,” Mr Aitken mentioned.
“I used to be doing stuff I did not wish to do, I did not notably take pleasure in working round chasing after distribution gross sales and advertising, it is not my wheelhouse.
“By making that call, we have wound it again to a extra fundamental and fulfilling sort of enterprise.”
Mr Aitken added by chopping manufacturing, they have been capable of cut back the wine business’s carbon footprint.
“We have now a paddock to plate method the place we’re sourcing all the things regionally, producing it regionally and promoting it regionally,” he mentioned.
“We have diminished the quantity of trucking we have to do, diesel use, it is a good aspect profit.”
Mr Aitken is now targeted on artisanal wine practices, with one instance being a white wine produced utilizing the sur lie growing older course of, which permits a completed wine to proceed to take a seat on the lees, or residual yeast, to be able to extract flavours.
“I’m undoubtedly specializing in the bizarre stuff, a singular pitch,” Mr Aitken mentioned.
“That is one of many good advantages of getting a smaller operation is you possibly can actually begin to plan and say ‘what can I attempt that nobody else is doing?’
“Persons are embracing artisanal merchandise, you simply have to have a look at the craft brewing phenomenon in the mean time and it is the identical with wine.”
He mentioned a rising quantity of shoppers have been on the lookout for natural wines “made with much less intervention.”
Woodgate Wines produces quite a lot of crimson, white and glowing wines together with Shiraz Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Merlot and Chardonnay, with the fruits sourced from its three hectare-estate winery in Manjimup.
Mr Aitken mentioned Manjimup and Pemberton have been creating a reputation for themselves as premium pinot noir areas and will complement the better-known Margaret River space.
“Many individuals have not heard of Manjimup and Pemberton being wine rising areas they usually’re fairly shocked on the high quality, how good all of the native wines really are,” he mentioned.
“The world is slightly little bit of a hidden gem, it has so much going for it as a spot to return and immerse your self in for the style of the meals, the wine.”
Mr Aitken will showcase his merchandise on the Pinot Picnic occasion in Manjimup and Pemberton on the finish of April.
“It is a possibility for individuals to return down and expertise the tourism of the realm, with the deal with Pinot Noir,” he mentioned.
