The Battle of Evermore, and of Small Business.

"Queen of Light took her bow, And then she turned to go,

The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom, And walked the night alone.

Oh, dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light.

The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all."

This blog post has been brewing in my head for at least the past eight weeks. The only thing that has changed during this time, is the placement of the goal posts that I thought I was kicking toward, in September. Life's like that. Even the best laid plans go astray. Tonight, and through to the wee hours of the morning, while listening to Led Zeppelin's  Battle of Evermore, I pondered many things, especially the word 'battle'.

In October, I drove, or was driven, over three thousand kilometres in distance. Toward the end of the month, it became a battle. Being surrounded by death or the dying of some of those I love and admire most, became a battle. Working so much still, knowing how tough it is to sell even a good competitive wine, let alone have all the energy necessary to run a family and two businesses, became a battle. There were days when I felt like I could sleep forever, and many more nights where I couldn't sleep at all. Existence became a battle. I'm picking up, if only because the pressure from most fronts has dropped, for now anyway.

The tough part was not being in a battle, it was not knowing how long those current battles would last. It's hard to keep going when you are worn out on every level. And unfortunately, a lot of small business owners are. Thus, I pose to you, just how important really is it for small businesses to remain viable in your neighbourhood, state and country?

As I drove to Melbourne, in the early days of October, I set myself some goals - for Karra Yerta Wines, Collective Barossa, my family and myself. They seemed to be the correct ones to aim for at the time. Five days later, on my return home, they were still the best options. I had been grieving heavily (that story will come in due course), and my heart and soul were drained. As I stopped at small country towns, and not so small ones, I took note of whether McDonalds, Woolworths, Coles and the like, were there. Watched for wind farms. Paid attention to well, things.... Lots of things. Life. I paid attention to my life, society, my place in it, my future and the future of all of us. I pondered deeply, about much.

I also gently spoke with other small business owners of many different kinds of retail outlets. They all said it had been a tough winter season. Lots of them were battling to pay the bills, as I was. Overheads in the wine industry, let alone the retail industry, are high. Even though I know what profit is, I am yet to see any, and that is fine as long as you have some idea how long the battle will last, for it is only then that you know the correct time to implement your Exit Strategy. One of my dearest friends, who is so gravely ill at the moment, and for whom I am already grieving, taught me the importance of an exit strategy and I am forever grateful to him.

I am also grateful to the many people who have helped me promote or sell our wines in the past month. Our 'Special Clearance Sale' ends on November 20. I need to sell lots of wine ("lots" to me is less than a few hundred cases) to have cash flow and reduce my overheads to remain viable with Karra Yerta and Collective Barossa.

Another thing I am grateful for is the never ending support from James, Steven (Kurtz Family Vineyards) and Mark (Gumpara Wines). Steven and Mark's commitment to selling their wines through (and serving behind the counter of) Collective Barossa, has been remarkable. Almost two years on, we have become an even tighter machine and work together so well. The respect we have for each other is incredible. It's another reason for me to keep going when I am so tired, when I can no longer speak a fluent sentence from sheer exhaustion of too many phone calls and too much talking. I love my quiet time at home, more than most people, I am sure. But for all the hard work, I still love my job. I love the people I work with, and I love meeting the amazing people that walk through the doors. These are the things that keep one going through the battle. These are also the things that change the positions of my goal posts. Life's like that. Even the best laid plans go astray........

So, in finishing off this rather heartfelt rant, I ask you all to consider supporting as many small businesses as you can. Once they close the doors, the chance of them reopening is probably non-existent. Drive past the big boys and just sometimes, drop into a small family business instead. A winery, a bottle-shop, a book shop, a gift shop, a restaurant, a cafe'. These are the people who through their own passion or stupidity (sometimes I wonder which of these two categories I fall under - maybe both!) decide they want to work long days, for perhaps no monetary payment, to follow their dreams.

I like small business, I like living in the country, and I love living in Australia. Let's all try to help Aussie small businesses survive in the future. The choice is ours! It really is that simple.

Cheers for now,
Marie

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.

New Year news

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! 2009 is almost here and is sure to be a year of surprises. The first lot of news I would like to announce is a group venture that Karra Yerta Wines is involved in and will be a lot of fun.

Announcing: Collective

Collective is a new group of passionate Barossans (Gumpara Wines, Karra Yerta Wines, Kurtz Family Vineyards and Smallfry Wines).

Thirty different Barossa and Eden Valley wines will be showcased by the four boutique producers whose ancestors were some of the original Barossa settlers in the 1840's. Lunch is available at The Clubhouse and you are welcome to drink any wine purchased from the tasting whilst dining.

At: The Tanunda Clubhouse, Tanunda (Barossa Valley, SA)

On: Saturday 24th January 2009 (Australia Day long weekend) from 11am to 4pm

Enquiries/bookings: Mark 0419624599, Steve 0418810982, Wayne 0412153243

Please email me at karrayertawines@gmail.com for more details or give one of the guys a call on the numbers above. It should be a great day.

Are we Australia's smallest winery?

I have just started working on our first ever advertising campaign. The inspiration has come from the simple question asked by so many within the wine industry when I tell them how much wine we produce each year: "Why do you bother?"

Well, it is an odd thing that our customers appreciate the fact that we are so tiny, as opposed to many larger winery owners who think we are totally wasting our time. One fellow even stated that it would never be worth our while exporting. I politely told him that we had in fact sent an entire pallet (64 cases) to the UK last year and he was quite astounded.

I can recall how one of our former accountants used to persist in calling us "life-stylers". I don't think he meant to be condescending but I did find it a little negative. He stated that we would never make a reasonable income from our wine sales, ever. He refused to even acknowledge us as being a "small business".

Yes we are probably Australia's smallest winery, or at least one of the smallest: we process under 5 tonnes of grapes, produce less than 500 cases and end up with less than 5000 bottles per year, but that does not mean that we cannot contribute to the premium end of the Australian wine industry. In fact, I think it is an advantage as people we deal with, on any level, be it retailers, customers, wholesalers, salespeople etc, all deal directly with my husband, James, or myself.

There are no other employees to misplace paperwork or labels. We can do that all on our own, thankyou! Just joking. We seem to be coping quite well with the multi-tasking that comes with running a business with our own hands. And when we get positive comments from reputable wine writers and appreciative customers who themselves are beginning to question the motives of the multi-national wine companies, it provides great inspiration for us to keep at it.

Yes, there will be times when we get behind if the entire family catches influenza, or we may be bogged down in paperwork during pruning time, but we do catch up. That's just a part of being a small (tiny) family business. Our new motto is to "Appreciate the little things in life.." Yes, little we may be, but a significant impact we will make, eventually. And there are more and more of us "little guys" out there. So next time someone asks me why we bother, I will smile and say.. because we can....