Monday, December 14, 2009

The Importance of the Generations

The past few weeks have provided some interesting and challenging moments for us at Karra Yerta. Some have been good, most frustrating, but in the end, all of them with a common denominator - the importance of keeping and promoting the heritage of our beautiful area.

Last Thursday I was fortunate to attend the Barossa Generations Lunch at Chateau Tanunda where the admirable Jane Ferrari of Yalumba Wines was MC hosting a panel of impressive local identities including Prue Henschke, Stefan Ahrens, Bob McLean and John Duvall who were available to discuss and answer questions relating to the importance of families encouraging their younger generations to take a hands-on role in their family businesses to not only ensure that the family businesses survive into the future but also that new and fresh ideas are implemented where possible so that we can all work together to increase the regions appeal to tourists and locals alike.


Ironic then that a wonderful new business venture that I have been working on for the past four months has been stalled indefinitely by concerns (and subsequent objections in regards to my application for an appropriate liquor licence) from two large companies that already have a large presence and holding in the area.

It was my intention to open a shop in Tanunda before Christmas this year which would enable four small family wineries to have a combined cellar door outlet which would tie in with the beautiful location it was in - the Barossa Museum. My vision was to provide tourists with a total heritage experience i.e. being able to taste and buy bottled wines from 5th and 6th generation descendants of the original settlers of the Barossa which would have been a wonderful thing for the families and the museum. At this stage it appears that a pre-Christmas opening is not possible and at the worst case scenario, it could even take months before we can open our doors.
That is a shame for all the wineries concerned, the Museum and also for my two sons who I had planned to have help me over the Christmas holiday period. The experience for them alone would have been priceless and is indeed an important part of the whole Generations concept as ultimately it is my dream for the new business to have them involved in it, both now and in the future.

So that leaves the question as to where is the Barossa really heading as far as the Generations go? I do hope that common sense prevails in this instance and that a mutual agreement can be reached between myself and the parties opposing my application. In the meantime I am hoping that our loyal customers can continue to support us by purchasing our wines directly from us. I will keep you all updated via this blog and my regular newsletters as to the progress on what could and should be a wonderful thing for the entire region, and ultimately make our lovely area even more of an enticing place to visit.

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