For the first time ever, the Wine Communicator of the Year has been awarded to a cellar door team. Based in McLaren Vale, General Manager Sam Oliver and the Oliver’s Taranga Cellar Door Host Team flew to Sydney to be able to accept the award presented in Sydney on Thursday night.

Presented at Urban Winery, it was evident on the night just how much the Oliver’s Taranga team love working for this family and love what they do. This award is the result of diligent teamwork and a passion for wine.

The award is not one that applauds a big broadcast mass media campaign. Rather, it celebrates the importance of on the ground, consistent and personalised communication when it comes to wine.

Director and Winemaker Corrina Wright was unable to make it to Sydney but she said each person on the team continually strives to make each and every visitor’s experience of the Oliver’s Taranga brand individual and unique.

“The team is made up of full time and part time/casual staff- but every single one of them are awesome in their own way, and really result in the customers walking away as advocates of our small family wine brand,” Oliver said.

The Oliver family have been making wine on the 100 hectare 'Taranga' property for more than 180 years.

“From the warm individual welcome, remembering names and details from previous visits, the surprise complimentary tasting accompaniments, the local recommendations, the unpretentious wine education and the catering to each guest’s preferred taste profile – our guests are looked after by an engaged and engaging cellar door host team. All the way down to a personalised hand-written note that goes with the customers wine delivery,” she said.

The results from ‘taking time to do the things that matter’  - one of the winery’s mantras – has seen the Oliver’s Taranga Wine Club grow by 55 per cent from 2020 to 2021, which also saw revenue from this channel grow by 187 per cent.

WCA Executive Officer, Andrew Stark said, "I’m thrilled that that we’re recognising that wine communication takes place in a diversity of environments and across a wide range of media. The cellar door experience, and in hospitality more broadly, plays such an important role in building brand advocacy and is where so many stories are told, so it’s fantastic that our overall winner comes from that sector and sets the standard for what compelling story telling looks like.”

While not all of the finalists were in the room owing to prohibitive flight costs, many were able to be there, including Yalumba’s Cynthia Gemus (pictured below with Dr Armando Corsi from University of Adelaide) who won the award for Best Wine Educator.

Amanda Whiteland from the Margaret River Wine Association travelled all the way from Western Australia, collecting the awards for Best Wine-Themed Event and the Margaret River Wine Association app - downloaded 4 million times within its first launch week -  which won Best App.

Adelaide based Katie Spain was also there to receive the award for Best New Wine Book for The Wine Producers: Best of McLaren Vale and Best of Barossa.

The category award winners for the 2022 Wine Communicators of the Year are:

  • Best Wine Marketing Communication Campaign (Individual or Team): Barossa Australia -- The Barossa It's Just Us Campaign
  • Best Wine Blog or Podcast: Wine with Meg + Mel Podcast
  • Best Published Feature Article or Wine Column: Lisa Cardelli
  • Best New Wine Book: The Wine Producers: Best of McLaren Vale and Best of Barossa written by Katie Spain and published by Budmedia
  • Best Wine Website or App: Margaret River Wine Association
  • Best Wine-Themed Event: Margaret River Fine Vines Festival, AHOY Management
  • Best Wine Communicator – Cellar Door: Oliver's Taranga Cellar Door Host Team
  • Best Wine Educator: Cynthia Gemus, Yalumba Wines
  • Best Wine Student: Karlee Cook, The University of Adelaide

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