Some Like it Hot 2008 – Technical seminar and advanced winemaker tasting
Abstract
Some Like it Hot 2008 – Technical seminar and advanced winemaker tasting
Summary
The 2008 Some Like it Hot technical seminar and advanced winemaker tasting continued in a fashion that further strengthened burgeoning esteem in which the seminar is now held.
Difficult conditions in the warm irrigated regions of the Australian wine industry persisted. Australia’s largest wine region by volume was restricted to 18% of its water allocation. Having panicked and overreacted to a low national crush in 2007, the industry was left grabbling with oversupply and the falling value of its produce. Good information becomes powerful, and does so at the best of times, but when the chips are down those who can best interpret that information position themselves to grasp the opportunities circle within the volatility.
At a regional level, seminars such as Some Like it Hot play an integral role in developing industry. Despite the best intentions of many, innovative solutions to the Australian wine industry are unlikely to be resolved at a national level. Individual enterprises need to be empowered to find commercial solutions to industries predicament. The alternative is to maintain an entrenched system and continue in response to its behaviour.
With this in mind the Some Like it Hot seminar and advanced tasting operated with the intent of offering access to the best information, allowing individuals to partake in strategic debate and supporting the enterprises that are going to lead the industry forward.
Understanding the natural resources, the human resource and the intricacies of the business environment are pertinent to developing the strategies required for success. Some Like it Hot 2008 took a strong focus on water security, the Murray River system and adequacies, or otherwise, of the current system of governance. Corporate views of the global industry were balance by management objectives at a vineyard level and talk of varieties better suited to warm climates had the context of the supply and demand position to lend support.
All in all, the 140 attendees left the seminar knowing they had to unite on many fronts but were also better positioned to make decision at an enterprise level. The leaders, looking for that point of intervention that will allow them to change the system and have it work better to support their businesses!