Australia's First Families of Wine (AFFW) is an

Australian wine The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor ...

initiative to raise the profile of Australian wine to the world, showcasing a representative of its landmark wines and to highlight the quality and diversity of Australian wine. Established by a collective of twelve multi-generational family-owned wine producers. Together the families represent seventeen wine-growing regions across Australia and forty-eight generations of winemakers. It was officially launched at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

on 31 August 2009 by

Tony Burke Anthony Stephen Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts since 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP ...

, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.Funding First Families of Wine to boost exports
/ref>Simon Evans, The Australian Financial Review, Tuesday 18 August 2009, Page 61

Members

The inaugural members of Australia's First Families of Wine are: * Brown Brothers, founded in 1885, with vineyards in the King Valley, Heathcote and Swan Hill wine regions of Victoria * Campbells of Rutherglen, founded in 1870, with vineyards in the Rutherglen wine region of Victoria *

D'Arenberg d'Arenberg is an Australian wine company founded in 1912. All of its vineyards are located in South Australia's McLaren Vale wine region, although some of the wines they make are produced from grapes sourced from the Adelaide Hills wine reg ...

, (the Osborn family), founded in 1912, with vineyards in the McLaren Vale wine region of South Australia *

Henschke Henschke is a family-owned, -year-old Australian winery, located in Keyneton, South Australia in the Eden Valley wine region. It produces the 'Hill of Grace', one of Australia's "cult wines", and was considered Australia's second best wine by ...

, founded in 1868, with vineyards in the Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills wine regions of South Australia *

Howard Park Wines Howard Park Wines are Margaret River and Great Southern wine specialists and a family-owned winery owned by the Burch family, which is responsible for such brands as Howard Park, MadFish, and Marchand & Burch. With an established winery base ...

, (the Burch family), founded in 1986, with vineyards in the

Margaret River The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River. The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range. The ...

and Great Southern wine regions of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

* Jim Barry Wines, founded in 1959, with vineyards in the Clare Valley and Coonawarra wine regions of South Australia * McWilliam's Wines, founded in 1877, with vineyards in the Riverina, Hunter Valley and Hilltops wine regions of New South Wales, the

Yarra Valley The Yarra Valley is the region surrounding the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia. The river originates approximately east of the Melbourne central business district and flows towards it and out into Port Phillip Bay. The name Yarra Valley ...

wine region of Victoria, the Coonawarra wine region of South Australia and the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia *

Tahbilk Tahbilk Winery is a historic Australian winery with National Trust certification. It is located north of Melbourne between the townships of Seymour, Victoria, Seymour and Nagambie, Victoria, Nagambie in the Nagambie Lakes (wine), Nagambie Lake ...

, (the Purbrick family), founded in 1860, with vineyards in the Nagambie Lakes wine region of Victoria *

Taylors Wines __NOTOC__ Taylors Wines is a family-owned winery established in 1969 which is located in the Clare Valley of South Australia. Taylors is one of the founding members of the Australia's First Families of Wine.Halliday, James (2012) ''Australian W ...

, founded in 1969, with vineyards in the Clare Valley wine region of South Australia * Tyrrell's, founded in 1858, with vineyards in the Hunter Valley wine region of New South Wales, the Heathcote wine region of Victoria and the McLaren Vale wine region and Limestone Coast wine zone of South Australia *

Yalumba Yalumba is an Australian winery located near the town of Angaston, South Australia in the Barossa Valley wine region. It was founded by a British brewer, Samuel Smith, who emigrated to Australia with his family from Wareham, Dorset in August ...

, (the Hill Smith family), founded in 1849, with vineyards in the Eden Valley and the Barossa Valley wine regions of South Australia.

Criteria

The main criteria that the family-owned companies need are: * Have a "landmark wine" in their portfolios listed under Langton's Classification and/or 75% agreement by group that a wine is considered "iconic" * Being family controlled as defined under the Australian Corporations Act * Have the ability to do at least a 20-year vertical tasting * Have a history going back a minimum of two generations * Have ownership of vineyards more than 50 years old and/or ownership of distinguished sites which exemplify the best of

terroir (, ; from ''terre'', "land") is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these conte ...

* Long-term commitment to export, environmental best practices and appropriate cellar door experience * Family-member service on wine industry bodies * Membership of the Winemakers Federation of Australia

Mission statement

First Families chairman and fourth generation winemaker and

chief executive Alister Purbrick stated: "We desperately need to change the global perception of

. We don't believe as individual companies we can stem the avalanche of news stories about Australia producing nothing but cheap industrial wines. But together we can present a powerful showcase of terrific regional wines of great diversity." Some industry commentators lay the blame for this negative opinion on the giant, publicly listed multinational corporations, such as Constellation Wines and Foster's, which have dominated the industry for years and concentrated on the cheap commodity end of the market rather than building the reputation of Australia's finer, regionally distinctive wines. "While as family winemakers we all value our independence, we do share a common vision - that Australian wine can take on the world's best and win," Purbrick said.

History of concept

The concept is based on similar initiative launched nearly 20 years ago when a group of the Europe's leading family wineries formed an association called

Primum Familiae Vini Primum Familiae Vini (often abbreviated PFV, Latin: "First Families of Wine") is an association of family-owned wineries with a membership limited to twelve families. History The association was established in 1993 by Miguel Torres and Robert ...

, (PFV abbreviated often, Latin: Best families of the wine), and replicated a few years ago in New Zealand with its Family of Twelve.Ray Jordan, The West Australian, Saturday 5 September 2009, page 70

Books and media

* '' Heart & soul : Australia's First Families of Wine, (2010)

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* AFFW Website
Australia's First Families of Wine
{{Authority control Australian cuisine-related lists Wine-related lists Australian wine Wine industry organizations