MARGARET RIVER WINE CLUB
By Dave Roberts
We're not trained journalists. The glimpses we give
you of people and their lives and work come fairly
simply from their own mouths, and the formula when
we ask about an enterprise goes "why this business,
and why here".
Mat Lewis loves his industry. It wasn't
hard to get him to open up that he'd fallen
into the wine and viticulture industry when
he needed a few dollars to get through uni
and other challenges (certainly more romantic
than delivering asbestos for fences, but
we know where you're coming from). Bars,
vineyards, cellar doors, Mat found himself
immersed in the whole culture of the wine
grower and the wine maker. These people
are passionate about what they're doing,
and the work has become their life, to the
point where it's not work anymore.
So what does a guy do who has come to see
himself as a part of the wine culture and
wants to stay, but doesn't see himself in
a vineyard? Mat did what most of our featured
entrepreneurs do, and took a look at what
still needed to be done. What part of the
industry could use a good hand, that he thought
was a match for his skills? Mat saw the structure
of the industry, with boutique wineries producing
small amounts of quality product, and with
operators really putting in a lot of work
just to get the stuff in the bottle, and saw
that for many of them, matching the big guys
for quantity, and for marketing smarts was
just too big a reach. So was born the Margaret
River Wine Club.
The club started out with a fair deal of social support
in mind, for wine drinkers who knew there was plenty
to know, but weren't sure how to find out, and for
boutique vineyards and winemakers who could feel a
little isolated. Mat's clear, when you buy a bottle
of wine as a member of the Margaret River Wine Club,
you get more than a bottle of wine. There is access
to knowledge about the product, there is a chance
to interact with the very roots of the industry, and
there is a link to all manner of complementary products
that we've come to know are part of the south west
experience. All sorts of things link to wine: events,
tours, food, to name a few, and there are links in
place to take advantage.
A bit of social support to growers and winemakers
was important too. These guys become aware that huge
companies are very interested in the money in the
wine industry, and that some of us drinkers are not
knowledgable enough to understand what's a good drop
and why we should pay another couple of dollars a
bottle sometimes. The chance to understand that there
are ways to compete, and that with a consolidator
aboard like the Margaret River Wine Club, you can
contribute to filling an order that's way beyond your
own capabilities. The reassuring thought that you're
not pitching up against the big guys all on your own,
and that your neighbour can be friend and ally rather
than your competitor.
So Mat has set out to be at the heart of an industry
in a region that could use someone at it's heart.
The club is growing and the numbers seem to indicate
that while there's never a moment to sit back and
feel that you're safe, it's not always hand to mouth
now. He sees some significant challenges for the future.
There is the need to get even bigger to work into
some significant markets, like the US and Europe.
He sees no reason that this can't be done, but imagines
that the scale of the job means that there'll be space
for wine from all over the south west to be part of
the produce mix, maybe even from some other WA regions.
So that was question one. Question two is pretty
simple also. Why here? "Well I love surfing.
The south west gave me a start in the industry. At
one point I was working in the vineyard at Fermoy,
the bar at Driftwood, and on the cellar door at Sandalford.
I still work the cellar door at Edwards' in Cowaramup,
it helps me to keep the connection with the customers
who will eventually be buying wine through the club."
The whole south west lifestyle, doing what you love,
being mellow and laid back is probably what most of
us come here for, and it's part of Mat's intention,
but he's learning that the game is a hard one, and
he is needing to play a little harder. It's part of
helping the industry, and it's nice to know that he's
winning a few for being tougher, but it is still something
that Mat is consciously doing, not part of his nature.
We keep asking, "why would you be anywhere else?",
and Mat appears to have made a business here because
he couldn't think of a good answer to the question.
