This week, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr launched a new joint branding for the Canberra Wine District; ‘Of Hearts and Vines’ was a collaboration between neighbouring vineyards to celebrate the survival of what Mr Barr dubbed “about two years of rolling crisis”.
The Of Hearts and Wines brand encompasses over 60 small regional businesses throughout the Canberra Wine District and is intended to be the ground of shared events and tourism campaigns for the next half decade.
Mr Barr wished the neighbourhood of wineries well, praising their survival of the 2020 bushfires, multiple waves of the global pandemic, as well as preparing for “a few potential challenges on the horizon”.
“We’re in a reasonably good position now to emerge from this challenging period,” he said. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand at the moment for a renewal of domestic tourism – we are already seeing that.”
Also the ACT’s Minister for Tourism and Special Events, Mr Barr said the Canberra Wine District gives strength to the material of the whole region’s tourism industry.
Sarah Collingwood, of Four Winds Vineyard, spoke of leaning on her neighbours through years of tears over frosts, hailstorms, and heat waves, but “also through toasts to trophies, successful vintages, and helpful neighbours”.
“My husband John and I have always said, if one of our tractors failed during a vintage, there’s any one of 20 neighbours that we could call on to lend us their own.
“The challenge has been how we capture this collaboration, this kindness, and its authenticity, and tell the world about it. How to tell people about the fabulous wines, the colourful characters, and this beautiful place,” Ms Collingwood said.
The community landed on a symbol incorporated into their shared name, in which the ‘W’ is simply constructed of a heart, and the fruit of their labour, merged into one.
David Faulks of Tallagandra Hill Winery was the rallying voice behind the development of the joint brand. “There is a limit to what we can achieve on our own within the wine industry. We’re small businesses, we don’t have a lot of riches individually,” Mr Faulks said.
He engaged local musician, Marty K to co-write ‘Call of Hearts and Vines’ as part of the new brand. The musician’s crooning vocals on weathering storms and leaning on community will be released on Spotify within the next two weeks.
The Chief Minister described the song as “bold and absolutely authentic”.
Mr Faulks concluded the launch with a call to Canberrans to “get behind all of our local producers, our wonderful wine, get behind the whole community.”
More information: canberrawines.com.au
Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.
For More:
