Producer ready to grow her craft

A BURONGA winemaker is using her industry knowledge and passion to mentor up-and-comers in the field.

Australia Vintage Buronga Hill Winery head winemaker Pia Merrick is one of 55 industry experts who will take part in Wine Communicators of Australia Wine Industry Mentor Program this year.

With 28 years of industry experience herself, Ms Merrick said she is looking forward to developing her own mentoring skills, as well as learning from her mentee, Kylie Langford from Treasury Wines Estate.

“It’s about sharing the knowledge, making the industry better, and working together as a team instead of all being individually in our wineries,” she said.

“Most of the time, the mentees that apply, they might be a bit stuck and not sure which direction they want to go (in the industry).”

“There is a program we can follow, but we can also create our own avenues depending on what the mentee wants, and we just help and guide and have chats and catch ups and taste some wine – it just depends on what they want.”

Ms Merrick said her particular passion was the scientific side of winemaking, and was selected to be on the advisory committee of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology’s judge the Oenology paper of the year.

“I was really interested in aromas and cooking and anything with intense smells, and I started reading a lot of wine books and cook books when I was very young,” she said.

“That is sort of where my passion started, from those early years.”

This isn’t the only good news out of Buronga Hill recently, with wine Ryan Andrew nominated for International Wine Challenge’s 2024 International White Winemaker of the Year award.

The winery also recently won a trophy for best pinot grigio/gris at the National Wine Show for its Tempus Two Copper pinot grigo.

Lead NoLo winemaker Amy Blackburn and her wider winemaking team also picked up a number of medals for their zero and lower alcohol wine.

Ms Merrick congratulated and thanked the whole team at Buronga Hill for their recent successes across the board.

“The last few months have been amazing,” she said.