Inspired by friends

We had been driving through the night along long flat straight Victorian and South Australian roads.  This was our second coffee for the night and it was badly burnt.  We laughed at how we had both become coffee snobs since living in Melbourne...but this coffee was bad, although to be fair, it was from a roadside petrol station just outside the town of Keith!

We slept through the night and then carried on to the Barossa Valley for our weekend adventure and to catch up with an old friend, Dan Standish from the Standish Wine Company.  I had worked with Dan in the Napa Valley, California many years before.  I hadn't seen him for over a decade so was really looking forward to a catch up.

We organised to met for a private tasting at his winery and it was so cool to see what he had achieved over the past few years!  As Dan showed us around his boutique artisan winery it occurred to me that he has created, what many people would describe as a living dream.  He has grown the Standish Wine Company to now produce a selection of five (currently) premium wines that proudly showcase the Barossa Terroir ('personality').  The wines are pretty much organic (I will triple check this fact) with environmental sustainability considered all through the wine making process.  They really are made with love!  

Furthermore, he has a very clear philosophy about what his brand does and doesn't to.  He doesn't have a cellar door and only sells to a few boutique shops as he has a very clear focus who his customers are.  His five current wines are all priced the same, as he puts the same amount of work and effort into each.  From there he pretty much just supplies his wares to the leading restaurants in Australia and also internationally.

The wines themselves are fantastic!  All Barossa Shiraz blends, made in the old fashioned Burgandian way, that highlight different sub climates and soil types within the valley.  As we tasted, it was amazing to discover how different and distinct each wine was.   As we drank and laughed about old times, Dan's work reminded me of a framework that a marketing expert once told me about.  It's a very simple framework but the simplicity is what makes it so useful.

1. Brand
2. Product
3. Promote

First, get a very clear idea of what your brand is and what it is not.  Second, create the products and third, promote them.  This is the process that we have chosen to follow at Bare Rouge and I thought I would mention it to help anybody else who is wanting to take a leap of faith and do something for themselves.  At the moment Bare Rouge is our baby, still in its infancy.  But we have a clear philosophy and a strong feeling about what it is and what it represents.  It brings together our appreciation of nature, great wine and food with a desire to create and express ourselves in a sustainable way and our love of entertaining and having fun.   Sustainability is important and so is form and function.

We are currently working on step two, developing a product range which we believe embodies all these things.  This is still a personal project at the moment.  It's something that we are doing for fun.  We don't really have the time or space to be creating artisan housewares as we are both busy professionals who live in inner city Melbourne...but somehow it just seems to be happening.  Who knows where it will go, but we are open to all options!  How about you...do you have a dream?  What would you like to grow or build or create if you had the opportunity?      

Oh, and the coffee didn't get any better in the Barossa either..in fact I think it got worse!  But luckily we made it back to Melbourne and to our favourite cafe, Batch Espresso, in Balaclava where Jason Chan is living another really cool dream...but that is another story.



        

Inspired by Nature

The beauty of nature never fails to inspire.  Having travelled to West Gippsland for a weekend of peace, quiet and country goodness we spent the day winding through the countryside.  After visiting the Jindavic country market we drove to Noojee nestled in the foothills of Mt Baw Baw.

After winding up through the Toorongo Valley road, we parked our car and walked up to the Toorongo falls (pictured).  The path underfoot was soft as was the carpet of moss covering the rocky outcrops.  The fronds of beautiful ferns stretched out like fans and there was a crisp, clean freshness in the air.

Stretching up from the valley floor, the mighty eucalipts rose for the sunlight.   Up and up they went, so tall and straight that they almost disappeared into the sky.

Then there was the orchestra of sound.  In the foreground, birds chirping melodies and cicadas clicking harmonies.  The snap and crack underfoot as we walk over twigs and leaves on the path.  All the while, the powerful rush of the Toorongo waterfall filled the soundscape.  The flow of water, rolling over the rocks as it cascaded down the rocky hillside.   

This was nature in all its glory.  Beauty that is woven through layers and which tantalising the senses.  Beauty that draws together the softness of velvet with the strength of steel.  This is a power part of the inspiration within Bare Rouge.

If you are in Gippsland Victoria and appreciate the beauty of nature, we can highly recommend the Toorongo falls walking track.  As the DSE leaflet explains, the 1.5km walk is a basic level for people of average fitness or above.  With stops to enjoy the Toorongo and Amphitheatre waterfalls it takes about 1hr.  For more information about this beautiful short walk click on this link to the DSE flyer.