Australia Day marked in royal style

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will join today’s official Australia Day celebrations at an event in London featuring a selection of the country’s wines and industry representatives.

The wines poured at the Tourism Australia event will be Josef Chromy’s Tasmanian non vintage sparkling, Plan B! Wines’ Sauvignon Blanc 2013 from the Great Southern region and Château Tanunda’s new flagship, the 1858 Field Blend 2013, which is made from 150 year old Barossa plantings of Grenache, Mourvèdre and Malbec.

Among the members of Australia’s wine industry, many of whom are in the UK for the country’s annual trade tasting this week, to be presented to the Duchess are Brian Walsh, chairman of Wine Australia, and Stuart Barclay, general manager for market development at the same organisation.

With food and wine playing a major role in Australia’s wider tourism drive at the moment, the Duchess will experience a selection of “Australian-inspired” cuisines to complement the wines on offer.

Commenting on the event’s aim, Barclay observed: “We continue to proudly champion Australia’s world-class food and wine evolution, and this event gives us a chance to tell our wine stories by bringing to life the personalities behind the bottles on a prestigious stage. I’m looking forward to telling Her Royal Highness more about our exceptional wines.”

As president of the UK Vineyards Association since 2012, the Duchess has already shown her support for the wine industry, opening the UK’s first dedicated viticulture and oenology research centre at Plumpton College last year.