Event mayhem

Day one of the festival is complete! It has been a fabulous (yet frenzied!) day. Today it was the Long Table Feast, and the Margaret River Sidewalk Street Fiesta. It didn't matter how prepared we were, there was lots of rushing around and madness. I think there is always a lesson to be learnt for next time, but I also realise that running around on event day is to be expected. For the Long Table Feast I had to print the menus, guillotine them and then race them over to Leeuwin Estate where the 5-course lunch was being held. I got them there at 11am, just in time for the 12.30pm lunch. The long tables were set amongst the native karri trees at the incredible Leeuwin Estate. The beautiful smells of native flora, mixed with lovely ladies perfume filled the air, as the 208 guests arrived. It was obvious to all that this was a special event. For the short time while guests arrived I assisted with ticketing which simply involved welcoming guests, taking their tickets and directing them towards their first glass of wine!


Other than this brief interlude at the Long Table Feast, I ran errands for my supervisor, and focused on the Sidewalk Street Fiesta which was at 4.30-7.30pm this evening. The Sidewalk Street Fiesta is the community element to this four-day wine region festival which welcomes guests from Perth, interstate and the world. It is the classic free wine-tasting event on the main street of town in Margaret River for locals and festival patrons to soak up the entertainment and sample wines. In the past there has been road closures which were canned this year. I think it made the event better. By containing the crowd to the Sidewalks it felt busier and livelier. When the roads are closed the crowds are too dispersed which can result in the event feeling a little limp. Another change was the wine-tastings were actually held inside businesses along the main street of town rather than in a park. This meant people were buying things, and the shops involved could enjoy a little bit of PR! Some of shops such as the book shops made for a particularly quirky and fun setting to do a wine-tasting.

Sagika Boutique

Sagika Boutique, a ladies fashion shop, hosted Bransgrove Estate. The ladies who own Sagika, (Sandie, Gina & Karen) asked for a 'nice winery' to do their tasting. Bransgrove Estate is a lovely boutique family winery. It made sense to partner Bransgrove Estate with Sagika Boutique.

Rivertales Book Shop

Rivertales Book Shop hosted Arimia for the wine-tasting event. It wasn't until I dropped into Rivertales during a postering run in town three weeks ago that owner Susan Royer said they would like to be involved. Her partner works with Arimia, so she personally organised the tasting. The backdrop of books made for a warm setting. 

Margaret River Memories

Margaret River Memories had a wine tasting with Jarvis Estate. This was the miracle tasting. They were originally meant to have Evans & Tate do a wine tasting with them. Unfortunately Evans & Tate did not have an Approved Manager with ID card and were refused by Liquor Licensing. Today the ladies at MR Memories found Jarvis Estate and contacted Liquor Licensing themselves and made their event happen! Not to mention they put on a fabulous spread at the front of the shop and also served cheeses!

The Spaghetti Bowl

The Spaghetti Bowl had Cowaramup Wines & Clown Fish. Because they were a licensed restaurant, I did not need to include the Spaghetti Bowl on my Liquor License which was a bonus. During my call-out for wineries I phoned Cowaramup Wines & Clown Fish to see if they would be interested in being involved. It was then that they told me they already were, and were partnered with the Spaghetti Bowl! Easy.

Margaret River Book Shop

Margaret River Book Shop had Preveli Wines. Interestingly, Preveli Wines cellar door actually doubles up as the Prevelly Beach caravan park shop. It is a locals wine, and can be bought in large bottles. They do a particularly delicous Cabernet Merlot which was one of the wines at the Long Table Feast. The Preveli Wines are made at the Fraser-Gallop winery.

Settlers Liquor

This was a walk in the park for Settlers Liquor who featured a wine tasting from Flametree. As a bottle-shop they are quite familiar with having guest wineries come to the shop to spruik their wines through a tasting. The gentleman in the blue shirt and I must have been going in the same direction because he ended up at a few more wineries at the same time.

Tunbridge Gallery

The Tunbridge Gallery hosted a wine tasting with Thompson Estate. Both the gallery and winery were easily the most organised of all of the premises I dealt with. They arranged their tasting, got the paperwork back to me immediately, and caused no problems with the Liquor Licensing. This was a a civilised affair- I think guests enjoyed being able to look at art while trying the Thompson Estate wines.

The Good Olive

The Good Olive enjoyed a wine tasting from the reputable Cape Grace. Karen Karri-Davies who is pictured is the Cape Grace owner and was able to provide expert knowledge about the current vintage and her wines.

Goodfellas Cafe

Goodfellas Cafe had Howard Park & MadFish Wines. That is me in the photo. A lady who was tasting wines demanded my camera from me. She said that she bet I did not have a single photo of myself from the night and that she would take one. It was a little bit embarrassing, but nice to get shot of my work experience!

Margaret River Visitor Centre

The Margaret River Visitor Centre had not one, not two but four wineries. They had Windance Estate, Fermoy, House of Cards and Vasse Felix. After 6.30pm the public wine tasting at the Visitor Centre was ended to allow a special VIP tasting for our festival sponsors The Sunday Times, Channel 9 & Gourmet Traveller.






















Other than wine tastings there was market stalls, bands, buskers, street performers and marching bands up and down the sidewalks on the main stretch of town to create a lively atmosphere. At the top of town was the family section, with face painting, a bouncy castle, DJ Swami and food stalls.


I did a decent proportion of the event planning for the Sidewalk Street Fiesta, which made it feel all of the more special to me. Early on in the piece I had to source wineries for local businesses who had not yet found partnered with a winery. I've had meetings the Augusta-Margaret River Shire Council and the Margaret River Visitor Centre in the planning stages. I've arranged for the official paperwork and Liquor Licensing which has been a long, complicated process due to the large number of businesses involved, and various venues to be licensed. I designed the official mud-map for the event too. The mud-map is a black and white DL sized flyer which represented the main street of town, all relevant details, and all of the wine-tasting event locations for the evening. Unfortunately, I could not print the mud-maps until today- as I have been waiting with baited breath to find out if our liquor license would be approved before I went ahead and printed off 1000 back-to-front copies of this flyer. Over the past three weeks, we have experienced a series of difficulties with our liquor licensing, and it was only last night, (the very night before the festival!), did it finally come through. The mud-maps were the principal piece of documentation which gave the Sidewalk Street Fiesta any order. Without these, nobody would know what was going on or where the wine-tastings were being held. Furthermore, I snuck in some cheeky publicity for tomorrows Vintage Festival by printing that on the back! In the afternoon half of these mud-maps went to the businesses hosting events. During the first two hours of the festival my supervisor's kids and I personally handed out the remainder of mud-maps to people on the street- and there was literally a few thousand people!

Tomorrow is the Vintage Festival, and I have a very early start!


Student: Keely Robertson
Campus: Bentley Campus
Placement: Travel Management Group / Margaret River Wine Region Festival

Research? Wine-not!

After securing a placement with Travel Management Group to work on the Margaret River Wine Region Festival, I was excited to immerse myself in some good old fashioned research. As the name of my work experience organisation might suggest- the ‘research’ has definitely had its perks. But other than replacing G&Ts on a hot Sunday afternoon for delicious, fruity chilled Margaret River white wine, or doing lunches at the local wineries, I have also discovered how the very recent but fast-moving progress of the wine region (along with the surf scene!) has coincided with the dramatically fast development of Margaret River since the first vines were planted in the 1960s. I have been attempting to discover why the Margaret River wine region is so popular, and how best to most effectively communicate to the media and public about the festival. 


In the first few weeks of my placement, I recruited my friend Jess to join me on a wine-tour. I wanted to hear what a qualified tour guide has to say seeing as they are prime spokespersons for the Margaret River wine region. There are many excellent wine-tours, and I chose Wine for Dudes. As the name suggests, it is a laid-back approach to learning, sampling and enjoying wine. The wine tour cost $90- and it was intimate, light-hearted and rewarding. We travelled north of Margaret River which I am less familiar with, and visited four wineries ranging including a couple of boutique wineries starting at Adinfern and onto the bigger producing companies like the Hay Shed Hill. Hay Shed Hill planted their vines in the 1970s, making them one of the oldest wineries in the region. Due to the age and depth of the root-system of these vines which reaches deep into the earth, they are essentially self-irrigated and do not require a great deal of watering. Their classic wines which they refer to as the 'Block series' are made using grapes only from their best old vines. Whereas their Pitchfork Wines (which a lot of people actually prefer due to the fresh subtle flavours) is made using a blend of grapes from these vines as well as some sourced at a different vineyard. Over lunch we “made” our own blend of wine by pouring different quantities of the Cabernet and Shiraz into our glasses. In no way does this represent what is a very long and delicate process of wine-making, but it was a cute activity. We also visited The Margaret River Chocolate Company, The Margaret River Dairy Company for some cheeses that I had to try twice, and finished the day at a brewery. Although my notes were noticeably more scribbled towards the end of the day, I walked away with a head swimming with a newfound appreciation of wine region.


Long time locals will have witnessed first hand the growth of the wine region. It was only after a paper by agricultural scientist Dr John Gladstones in 1965 which identified the Margaret River soils to be similar to those in the French wine-producing region, the Bordeaux, that wineries starting popping up in the region. The first vines were planted in 1967 by Perth cardiologist Dr Tom Cullity who started Vasse Felix. At the time, Margaret River was a long drive on unkempt roads from Perth. Along with some dedicated surfers who saw the potential of this region, Dr Cullity cashed in on the blocks which were being sold for just several thousand dollars. There is now more than 120 wine producers in the region which extends 100km from Cape Leeuwin (Augusta) up to Cape Naturaliste (Dunsborough), and is 27km wide at points.


The very first Margaret River Wine Region Festival was in 1991. This means (probably like some of the PR students contributing to this blog!) it turns 21 this year. This could have been an excellent marketing point for the festival- but as the 20th was emphasised last year it seemed like it might be over doing it to push the age factor again. In the past 20 odd years, the festival has grown considerably to include the regions best winemakers, most sought after chefs, along with the cherished artisans who bring the region alive each year. While I am talking numbers, it is worth mentioning the age of wine-lovers who attend the Vintage Festival has dropped down from an averaged of 40+, to be 20+. We are expected a much younger crowd for the festivals premier event, the Vintage Festival on April 14th from 11am to 6pm at Palmer Wines in Dunsborough. There are now 38 wineries on board doing tastings, and a handful of gourmet food producers. Tickets are affordable at $35, and there is an awesome line-up of musicians which appeal to the younger demographic too. On the other hand, the Long Table Feast, which is the five course wine and food matched event with each course prepared by a local chef, has attracted the older demographic of 30-80 years old. This may have something to do with the price of the tickets which are close to $200. There were 200 tickets for the Long Table Feast, and we have watched with amazement as they all but vanished into thin air within the first few weeks. Apparently this group of food-lovers, who are often dubbed as the slow-food movement, can actually move quite quickly!


It is fair to say, Margaret River lives and breathes (and tastes) wine. The region has become regarded as one of the great wine-producing regions in the world. While it produces just 3% of the Australias wine grapes, it contributes 20% of the premium wine market. The local high school and recently established Curtin University campus teach the art of wine-making. Every local seems to have a larger than normal stash of wine. And when I mention the name ‘Margaret River’, people immediately think of the wine (as well as the surf beaches*). Down here, wine is more than just alcohol- it’s definitely a lifestyle. 


*Lets not discount the amazing surf beaches in Margaret River and how this has put the region on the global map, especially with reference to the Drug Aware Pro which was on last week. Although it was just a World Qualifying Series event, the worlds best surfers couldn't afford to miss it as the points gained from this competition went towards their end of year ranking. Yep- Kelly Slater was in town!


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Keely Robertson
Bentley Campus

Flooding the media with wine

Name: Keely Robertson

Campus: Bentley

Placement: Travel Management Group; Margaret River Wine Region Festival 2012

Placement Stats

The official start date of my placement was 20^th February; however I began my own personal work experience with the organisation from Monday 6^th February with two - three contact days per week depending on deadlines. At this point in time, I am well and truly immersed in my placement working on the Margaret River Wine Region Festival 2012 at Margaret River event management company; Travel Management Group.

The Margaret River Wine Region Festival is the premier event to celebrate the end of vintage and commemorate the magnificent work of the Margaret River wine region. TMG has been contracted by the Margaret River Wine Industry Association to organise the annual event on April 13-16th. There are four main events; the Vintage Festival, the Long Table Feast as well as two street fiestas in Dunsborough and Margaret River. A dozen more events will unfold at local wineries over the course of the festival.



2011 Vintage Fest entrance at Palmer Wines



Media Campaign

We are currently in the heart of the media campaign. At the start of my placement, my supervisor and I developed a week-by-week media timetable extending right up to the festival, and the weeks that follow. Each week for the past two months I have written media releases which are distributed through the MRWIA to their media contacts. To my delight, all of these media releases have been published in one of the south-west community newspapers. Unlike state publications who might prefer to put their own stamp on a story, the community newspapers have been a lot more receptive to publishing media releases without making great changes. Taking this into account, I've ensured all of the media releases follow the inverted pyramid style and are written as though I was a reporter for these newspapers. My media releases are proofed by TMG director John ‘JB’ Bradbury. JB sends the article through the MRWIA, who check they're being properly represented before then distributing it among their media contacts. As this step-ladder scenario might indicate, my part of the process is the very first rung. So at the start of each week I write my articles for the following Monday, giving enough time to filter through accordingly. See below for a couple of the articles about the festival which have also been published online.

Vintage Festival

Long Table Feast

Win a Cellar

Margaret River

(JB was interviewed by a journalist for the Margaret River article. This article featured in the Escape magazine in the Sunday Times on 19th Febrary. Unfortunately, the festival itself isn't mentioned until halfway through the article, but it did score the front page of the magazine!)

Over the past fortnight I have been putting together the event programme. The event programme will be published as a 16-page lift-out in the Sunday Times this Sunday, 25^th March. The content I have written includes; event blurbs and feature articles, the MRWIA president welcome, and band bios. I adapted some of the content from past festival programmes, and the Sunday Times journalists contributed several articles too. Let me know your thoughts if you see it!

Channel 9 and WIN has commenced airing the festival advertisement which can be caught at midday, or after 8.30pm (not in prime time because it is an alcohol event). Hotfm will be running a series of advertisements and some editorial during the next few weeks.

Image: The cover-page for the event programme which is to be published in the Sunday Times, 25th March. Artwork by Margaret River artisan Julienne Pogue is titled 'Lunch with the girls at Cullens'. Julienne won the People’s Choice Poster Competition at the 2011 Vintage Festival