Welcome to the November edition of the WCA e-news

Another super busy and exciting month for the WCA in November. On Tuesday 14^th of November in Sydney, the WCA held its AGM in the late afternoon, followed that night by the 2023 WCA Wine Communicator Awards.
 
The AGM wrapped up the 2022-2023 financial year and outlined our plans for the future. Financially, we showed a very modest profit and have a reasonably healthy balance sheet moving forward. To get a more comprehensive view on the outcomes, please read the Executive Chair’s report here.
 
The AGM also saw two loyal and long serving directors step down from the national board. Both Mel Ward and Stephanie Duboudin stepped down from the board and we thank them most sincerely for their service and dedication to the WCA. At the same time, we elected a new director in Olivia Barrie, and we welcome Olivia onto the board at the WCA and look forward to her contribution. To see the current board, please click here.
 
The 2023 WCA Wine Communicator Awards were again a big success with a ‘sell out’ crowd at the Handpicked Cellar Door in Sydney, and a room full of people celebrating excellence in the wine industry. Congratulations to overall Wine Communicator of the Year, Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross for their work on the book, How to Drink Australian. Please see a comprehensive list of winners here and I would especially like to congratulate Robin and Cassidy Shaw, mother and daughter combination, for separately winning their category on the night.
 
Other notable industry events include the graduation of the 2023 cohort of the Australian wine industry Future Leaders program. Having coached one of this year’s cohort, I have seen first-hand what a smart, insightful and engaged group of people they are!
 
Last week also saw the Australian Women in Wine 2023 National Symposium, held in Sydney. I am told it was a great event, both celebratory as well as thought provoking.
 
So, what’s coming up? Well, we have two events to help launch the significant (both in size and content) new wine book, The Australian Ark, written by Andrew Caillard MW. Events are planned in Adelaide on November 27^th and Sydney on December 5^th. 
 
Also, as a slight teaser, we are planning a large-scale event in March 2023 in Adelaide. This will be in the form of a Wine Growth Summit and be a face-to-face single day event in Adelaide. We are pencilling in March 27^th with more details to come…..
 
Thanks, and cheers for the festive season! 

Angus Barnes 🍷
WCA Executive Chair

Apart from winning all 10 preliminary games, India had the tournament’s top two run scorers (Kholi and Sharma) and two of the top five wicket takers (Shami and Bumrah). And as the host nation, India had the significant advantage of playing the final at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium in front of more than 120,000 people, the overwhelming majority covered in Indian blue.
Furthermore, Australia started the tournament very poorly, losing the first two games comfortably to India and South Africa. The Australians looked jaded and disinterested after a long year on the road, which included winning the World Test Championship and retaining the Ashes against the much vaunted but ultimately over-rated English Bazball. Inexplicably, Collins Dictionary recently added Bazball to its English Dictionary, defining it as “a style of test cricket in which the batting side attempts to gain the initiative by playing in a highly aggressive manner.” Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne perfectly encapsulated the reaction of many cricket-lovers, describing the inclusion of Bazball in the dictionary as “garbage”. “Seriously I don’t know what that is, honestly,” he said. Clearly Collins Dictionary never witnessed Australia blitzing many teams (including England routinely) with aggressive batting and bowling from the likes of Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, and Mitchell Johnson.
Australia could have potentially faced India in the semi-final when it was on the brink of losing to Afghanistan when it slumped to 7-91 chasing Afghanistan’s total of 291 but was miraculously saved by the cramping heroics of Australia’s most frustrating and enigmatic cricketer, The Big Show, Glenn Maxwell. Australia’s Glenn Maxwell should not be confused with American Glenn Maxwell Scott, author of ‘From Swillholes to Connoisseurs: Adventures in Life; fishing, biking and grousing’. Amazon describes this book as “Inciteful, snarky commentary on snobbish connoisseurs of beer, wine, and gadgets, near brawls with drunks at back country campgrounds as well as with good friends, and some lively exchanges with family that will resonate with many. This is a collection of irreverent, hilarious, and at times serious essays, commentary, and stories of youthful adventures, and growing up into a world of military service, wide-open outdoors, and adult buffoonery.” Sounds like a must-read to me.
Anyway, the bottom line is that Australia went into the final with the odds heavily stacked in India’s favour. And when Australian skipper, Pat Cummins, won the toss and elected to bowl, there was a collective gasp of disbelief across living rooms around Australia and the rest of the world. Winning the toss and electing to bowl in a final is as rare as hen’s teeth. Although this is not even all that rare as in 2006, researchers from Britain and the US succeeded in growing teeth in a chicken. Shut-up and take my money.
The decision to bowl proved to be a stroke of genius as Australia restricted India to just 240 runs and then led by a Travis Head masterclass, Australia chased the total down with 6 wickets in hand and 42 balls remaining. It can only be described as an old-fashioned shellacking.