Established by Negociants Australia in 1998 the Working with Wine Fellowship program is open to wine trade professionals and employees of distributors Negociants Australia and Samuel Smith & Son to encourage wine education in the Australian market. During 2019, I completed the nine-month program which included an initial entry examination, two workshops with two examinations and a written assignment of 1000 words maximum. This blog series covers what I experienced at the 2019 Working With Wine Program.

Taking place in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, scholars are required to sit a written exam and tasting assessment in each seminar covering the seminar’s key subject. 2019 brought international representatives from Bordeaux, Haut Bailly and Troplong Mondot, as well as Burgundy’s Domaine Dujac. The examinations in each seminar cover facts about viticulture, winemaking, regulations and global awareness of the regions and producers covered during the seminar. The tasting assessment at the end of each workshop consists of three wines served blind, and scholars are asked the identity of the wine; variety, country, region, vintage and producer.

My written assignment, which is a compulsory element of the program, was about my vision for the curation of a new fine dining restaurant. I had the pleasure of including the comments of fellow sommeliers who I respect and admire, including James Alcock, Matt Dunne, Marcel Kustos and Bathia Dheeraj. The participant with the most successful submission, as determined by Nick Ryan, will have their article published in the Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine and receives a one-on-one mentoring session with him.

The best performing participant from each State move on to the final round and travel interstate at Negociants Australia’s cost to Yalumba. This final round focuses on an interview with and presentation to the Working with Wine Fellowship Selection Panel. The panel will be chaired by Andrew Caillard MW and includes Nick Ryan (Freelance Wine Writer/Journalist), Sally Evans (Winepros), Ken Withers (Negociants Australia) and Tim Evans (Negociants Australia).

The 2019 Finalists per state were:

Louella Mathews [Bibo Wine Bar] - NSW
Courtney Tate [Negociants Australia] - NSW
Gus Pollard [Heart & Soil Imports] - VIC
Lieven Vanhoutte [Samuel Smith & Son] - VIC
Olivia Evans [Fleet Restaurant] - QLD
Samantha Faircloth [Negociants Australia] - QLD
Nina Throsby [Shorehouse] - WA
Ian Lambeck [Negociants Australia] - WA
Louis Schofield [Hellbound Wine Bar] - SA
Tom Minge [Samuel Smith & Son] - SA

The winner of the 2019 Working with Wine was Samantha Faircloth. She received an all-expenses-paid trip to Europe to visit some of the wine world's most celebrated producers, including; Antinori, Isole E Olena, Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Domaine Leflaive, Domaine Dujac, Domaine Faiveley, Paolo Scavino, Guigal, Hugel and Tenuta San Guido.

Read more about my experience of the 2019 Working with Wine Fellowship:

Seminar 1: Bordeaux & Beyond

Seminar 2: Burgundy: Beguiling, Bewildering and Beautiful

Written Assigment: ‘’You have carte blanche and a blank cheque to put together the wine list for a new fine dining restaurant. Take us through your vision.’’

2019 Working With Wine Fellowship