:: ABOUT US

Wine Culture opened its doors in May 2006 with a view in supporting and stocking many of Australia's and the world's most splendid boutique wineries. Our distinctive and eclectic selection reflects the passion we have for fine wines. We consistently support the notion that wines are individual entities, not mere commodities.

Among our guiding principles is our desire to seek out the most genuine and interesting wines available, wines manifesting real character and sense of place.  And because we fervently believe that wine should be easily accessible and not overly mysterious, we stock both the humble, and the great. Along with personal service, we offer our customers so much eclecticism and so much quality,

Here at Wine Culture we strive to nurture the connections between region and variety, vineyard and winemaker and consumer and service. Come in, say hello and see what we're all about. We'd love to meet you!

Cheers

Garth Oldfield

OUR STAFF:

Garth OLDFIELD, General Manager
 

Retailing wines in one form or another has been my crust for near on thirty years now. Having been introduced to the wine industry through my working in restuarants and five star hotels in New Zealand.
On arriving in Australia in 1984 it was not long before I was managing hotels for Tooth & Co, of course the hotels I managed always seemed to have a great selection of wines available.
In 1995, my passion for wines still on the increase, I decided to make a career change of sorts and move more into the retailing side of things. Taking up a position with Theo's Liquor as their Bondi Beach store manager, with outstanding success I might add. This success took me to managing their flagship store in Neutral Bay and then onto their Fines Wines manager, a position I held for 5 years. Ex-shoppers of Theo's and Crown of the Hill stores will be aware that there was always something different at the 16 stores I ranged for, not always your run of the mill wines. On the most part these rare, vintaged and cult wines had my finger prints all over them.
After Coles purchased Theos it was time to move on and what better thing to do than open my own shop specialising in what I did best at Theo's and Crown of the Hills. Fine Wines!!!

Cheers
Garth

 

Pierre DURAND,
pronounced Peeharr
Known as Peppy, or Dudu or whatever bird name you want to give me

I  made the move to the wine industry in 2002 after achieving my studies in Bio-Agronomy and Plants and Seeds genetic technologies, and after working for a time in the Sunflower genetic research industry.

I then studied trading and marketing techniques for 1 year ½ and, worked in the mean time as an account manager assistant for the big French wine company “Vinovalies”, known as Vignerons de Rabastens at the time.

Following this great experience I decided to pack my bag and quit every thing to go far far away down under in order to get my hands “dirty” and learn the noble process of making wine. I achieved a diploma in Viticulture and Winemaking in the Hunter Valley in 2 years. In the mean time I have worked for many wineries, more or less famous, more or less big, with different philosophies and characters, in Australia and France. Some references as First Creek (Hunter Valley), Rabastens (Gaillac, France), Leasingham (Clare valley), Hewitson(Barossa), Chateau Pape Clement (Bordeaux, Pessac-Leognan, France), Tyrell’s (Hunter Valley), Margan (Hunter Valley), have given me many tools and opportunities to learn and understand what’s going on in the bottle and outside.

As I have moved back to the sale, I still want to keep one foot in the cellar, so you will see me in and out, going back on a regular basis in wineries to keep learning and looking “en premiere” to some of the best juices we will supply to you.
I do not qualify myself as a “Wine Expert” as I think it takes more than a lifetime to learn all the subtilities of the mysterious process of wine. However, I believe that my situation will help me to give you any advice or tip in total objectivity on any label/range that we can get through the shop.

We used to say in France: “To make a great wine, you need:
 • a fool to cultivate the vine,
 • a wizard to rule and control it,
 • a bright artist to make it, 
 • a lover to drink it,
 • and a poet to sing its glory….”

Cheers all
Pierre

 
 

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