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Demand surges for Australia’s first indigenous wine

Australia’s first Indigenous owned Wine Brand Mt Yengo Wines has seen a tenfold surge in growth the last three months with expansion into Coles Liquor, Carnival Cruises, both China and the US as well as partnering with leading winemakers O’Leary Walker wines.

Co-owner Wayne Quilliam, a proud Palawa man and one of Australia’s most pre-eminent artists is attributing the rapid growth to people wanting a more unique offering of an Indigenous brand that also promotes First Nations art and culture.

“We wanted to bring a wine brand that promoted our unique and premium range as well highlighting our Indigenous art and culture, which plays a vital role in who we are,” Associate Professor Quilliam said.

“We have been working with one of the country’s leading winemakers David O’Leary and Nick and Jack Walker from the O’Leary Walker Winery for nearly five years, crafting our premium range of wines which are served in some of Australia’s best restaurants including Rockpool Sydney and Midden by Mark Olive at the Opera House.

“In a major coup we have also signed a deal to see these premium wines served on Carnival Cruises, including P&O and Princess Cruises, with more than 1200 cases sold in the last six weeks alone. This is something we are very proud of, with very few Australian brands given this opportunity to supply cruise ships in Australia.

“We also have three new wines launched into Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor (Coles Liquor) as well as supplied to major corporates including KPMG, E&Y, Macquarie Group, Deloitte and PwC.

“Our people are proud to see an Indigenous brand thriving in this space. We want our wine to be a celebration of diversity, unity, and the remarkable resilience of Indigenous culture,” Quilliam said.

Mt Yengo Wines export opportunities are also on the rise, already in the US for more than four years and finalising distribution into China in January with further plans in 2025 to expand the brand to the UK and parts of Europe.

The latest Export Report from Wine Australia shows wine exports are at their highest levels of both volume and value since August 2021.

Mt Yengo Wines also has a philanthropic vision, with a portion of money from the sale of each bottle going to the National Indigenous Culinary Institute (NICI) to support young Indigenous chefs and a Royalty to the artist whose work is on the bottle.

“We’ve proudly given just over $40,000 in the last 12 months, half going to support the National Indigenous Culinary Institute and as our rapid growth continues we are looking at upwards of $100,000 next year,” Quilliam said.

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