Family ties
It’s a time of generational change for Hunter Valley family wineries.
Peterson Wines and Savannah Estate
Savannah Peterson literally vibrates energy and she needs it. The 28-year-old has a shopping list of responsibilities that is exhausting to listen to.
Savannah stepped into a joint General Manager role with her father, Col Peterson in early 2023. The business owns Petersons wines, Savannah Estate, Pokolbin Cider House, Ben Ean, Baume Restaurant, cellar doors in Mudgee and Singapore, cellar door and accommodation in Armidale, an events business in Sydney and an exporting and tourism business in China. Savannah manages the front of house, sales, marketing and HR across all these businesses, as well as being a Director and Board member of Petersons House, which is a separate entity.
As a 3rd generation Peterson, perhaps her role in the business was preordained by her father, when she was 4 years-old and her eponymous wine brand, Savannah Estate launched.
Spreading her wings, Savannah moved to Ireland to run a successful wine bar before returning in 2020 to takeover managing Savannah Estate, at just 24 years of age. With her first job as a dishhand, she’s worked in every aspect of the business. “People think I’ve been handed things on a silver platter, but I’ve worked really hard”, she said.
Tyrrells Wines
One year ago, 5th generation Chris Tyrrell stepped into the role as CEO of Tyrrells Wines when his dad, Bruce, moved into the role as Executive Chairman. With an incredible history of over 160 years, Tyrrells has been a pioneer in both the Hunter Valley and Australian wine industry and custodians to some of the oldest vines in the world. Chris said, “I have immense pride in the legacy but it’s also a bit scary. I’m riding on the coattails of my forebearers, so what drives me is improving on what we have”.
Tyrrells has 120 hectares under wine, producing 130,000 dozen wines across nine brands. Chris comments, “Tyrrells is a good size, so I’ve been able to float across all aspects of the business. Most of my background was in operations and the winery, but now my job entails everything including finance, admin, sales, HR and strategy.
About the handover Chris said, “I think it’s been hard for Bruce, but we have a good relationship and he trusts me. I run the day to day and he makes the final decision for big capital expenditure.
We have an amazing team culture and some of our staff have been here since before I was born. Everyone has a lot of personal emotional ownership of the business and just gets on with the job. I’ve learnt to be ok with knowing what I’m not good at and just getting out of my team’s way”.
Mcleish Estate
Bob and Maryanne McLeish made a tree change to the Hunter Valley in 1990, starting McLeish Estate. Jessica McLeish started working part time in the business in 2008 when she was 18 years old and studying Human Resources at University. It was a post Uni trip to Europe and a vintage south of Boredeaux that saw her bitten by the wine bug. On her return she enrolled in a Masters of Wine Business.
In 2015 she stepped full time into the business and is now Operations Manager, responsible for Sales, Marketing, the Cellar Door, and overseeing vineyard management and the winemaking.
Jessica comments, “being part of the wine industry was an attractive option. It offers such diversity from working with winemakers, being part of vintage, to being on the road for sales and promotions”.
McLeish Estate was achieving success and notoriety at the time she came into the business. “My parents worked super hard, so I just didn’t want to stuff it up. I used to take wine reviews and criticisms so personally”, she laughs.
Jessica admits, “when I was in my 20’s, I really wanted to change the formulae that had made the business successful, it was a big learning curve.”
Read the full story in the Spring Edition of Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle Magazine or subscribe here.
Story by Cathy Gadd.
