11/09/2026
What happens when w**emakers, growers and marketers sit around the same table? The conversation gets interesting. 🍷
Recently, Ellen and Cheech were encouraged by Foni Pollitt to join The Viticulturists’ Table at Mayfair Lane in West Perth, an intimate evening bringing together 24 w**e lovers, growers and w**e industry voices from across Australia.
With five growers sharing ten deeply personal w**es, the evening was about much more than what was in the glass. It was about place, people, changing consumers and where Australian w**e goes next.
One sentiment in particular echoed amongst the diners:
“plant vines for w**es the consumers will want to buy, not what you expect them to buy.”
And it sparked a much bigger conversation.
The global w**e industry is facing a period of change with w**e consumption falling again in 2025. New generations come of age, and shifts in consumer habits and traditional markets are more challenging.
So the question for Australian w**eries isn’t simply “How do we sell more w**e?”
It’s:
“Who are we selling to?”
”What markets are interested in Australian w**e regions?”
“What do they want to drink?”
“Where are they discovering it?”
“And how do we reach them differently?”
For Ellen, Ignite Search’s in-house w**e enthusiast and a former student of Foni’s WSET course, it was a brilliant opportunity to connect with w**ery owners, viticulturalists and w**e merchants from multiple Australian regions and share ideas around modern marketing, e-commerce strategy and finding new pathways to market.
Because sometimes the answer isn’t to keep doing what has always been done (from one of the most traditionally driven industries in the world). It’s to understand your audience, rethink the approach and be willing to market differently.
At Ignite Search, we’re proud to partner with Australian businesses for hospitality, tourism and destination marketing and we’re poised to help the Australian w**e industry find modern, digital-first solutions to some very old marketing challenges.
The future of Australian w**e is ripe with venture, and Ignite Search is ready to be part of the conversation. 🍷
A big thank you to Foni Pollitt for bringing such a thoughtful group of people around one table.
