Fair shake of the savvy bottle!

For the past few years, one white wine style has dominated our social lives like no other.  Sauvignon Blanc did what no wine was able to achieve in 20 years by knocking Chardonnay off its perch to become Australia’s most popular wine style.

It’s been ALL about Sauvignon Blanc.  But not just any kind – Marlborough from NZ was the region of choice and Oyster Bay our favourite label.  It was impossible to attend a barbie or have a drink with the girls without having a glass.

But something is changing.  At our wine tastings, we’re starting to hear the voices of dissent.  “I’m so over NZ Sav Blanc, I need a new white wine to love.”  Is it just us or have you noticed the tide of favour turning too?  I have two theories why we’re ditching NZ Sauvignon Blanc faster than Gordon Ramsay.

Firstly, we’ve collectively reached our boredom threshold, with many suffering from repetitive Sav Blanc consumption after years of unquestioning service.  (Funny I’m yet to reach that point with Tim Tams).

My second theory is more sinister – we’ve been had. They hooked us in with some delicious examples in the beginning, but with the rise in popularity, supply couldn’t keep up.  So bottle shops today are flooded with unripe, cat-pee-and-leaves-smelling, commercial crap, pumped out by gigantic corporations banking on the consumer’s continued commitment to buy Marlborough.  “This is a safe bet, everyone likes a Marlborough Sav Blanc.”

WRONG.

We did like a Marlborough Sav Blanc, back in the days when the wines had regional character.  Not that there aren’t still good ones available, of course there are.  But I bet you won’t find them in your local bottle shop for under $25.

We’re experiencing a trend away from NZ Sav Blanc and a desire to try something new.  Like a Pinot Gris, a Riesling, or dare I say it – Chardonnay.  Even those who can’t bear the thought of ditching their fave style altogether, enjoy trying a Sauvignon Blanc from Orange, Margaret River or Adelaide Hills. Same same, but oh so different.

My prediction?  It’s the beginning of the end for Sauvignon Blanc.  A new IT wine is on the way, the only question is which wine style will it be?  My pick is Pinot Gris.  What’s yours?

For the past few years, one white wine style has dominated our social lives like no other.  Sauvignon Blanc did what no wine was able to achieve in 20 years by knocking Chardonnay off its perch to become Australia’s most popular wine style.

It’s been ALL about Sauvignon Blanc.  But not just any kind – Marlborough in NZ was the region of choice and Oyster Bay our favourite label.  It was impossible to attend a barbie or have a drink with the girls without having a glass.

But something is changing.  At our wine tastings, we’re starting to hear the voices of dissent.  “I’m over NZ Sav Blanc, I need a new white wine to love.” Is it just us or have you noticed the tide of favour turning too?  I have two theories why we’re ditching NZ Sauvignon Blanc faster than Gordon Ramsay.

Firstly, we’re reaching our boredom threshold, with many suffering from repetitive Sav Blanc consumption after years of unquestioning service.  (Funny I’m yet to reach that point with Tim Tams).

My second theory is more sinister – we’ve been had. They hooked us in with some delicious examples in the beginning, but with the rise in popularity, supply couldn’t keep up.  So today when we buy Marlborough Sav Blanc we’re at a high risk of receiving unripe, cat-pee-and-leaves-smelling, commercial wines made in huge quantities by corporations banking on the consumer’s continued commitment to buy Marlborough.  “This is a safe bet, everyone likes a Marlborough Sav Blanc.”

WRONG.

We did like a Marlborough Sav Blanc, back in the days when the wines had regional character.  Not that there aren’t still good ones available, of course there are.  But I bet you won’t find them in your local bottle shop for under $25.

So starts the trend to look beyond NZ Sav Blanc and a desire to try something new.  Like a Pinot Gris, a Riesling, or dare I say it – Chardonnay.

And for those who can’t bear the thought of ditching their fave style altogether? Try seeking out Sauvignon Blanc from Orange, Margaret River or the Adelaide Hills. Same same, but oh so different.

My prediction?  It’s the beginning of the end for Sauvignon Blanc.  A new IT wine is on the way, the only question is which wine style will it be?  My pick is Pinot Gris.  What’s yours?

Finally.

We got it!! We’re now proud holders of a liquor licence, No. Liqp770010005.

No time to talk now.  We’ve got lots of work to do.  

Back soon with more updates.

Kampai!!

Waiting…..

So its been a few weeks since our last post. Sorry about that – we’re sure you’ve been losing sleep wondering what’s going on. You see we had planned a HUGE announcement for our next post. Namely, the arrival of our liquor license which will finally give us the green light to launch Kampai!!! Unfortunately we’re still waiting. So rather than have you wait it out with us (at this rate who knows when the Huge Announcement post will materialise), we thought we’d share what a typical Kampai work days looks like while we’re waiting for the pesky license:

1. Go wig shopping for an upcoming social event (it is a wig party btw, not a strange personal proclivity).

2. Make a trip to the PO Box to check arrival of license notification letter.

3. Plan dinner. This involves lengthy consultation with multiple recipe books and a special trip to shops for obscure herb or spice.

4. Call the Office of Liquor Gaming & Racing (OLGR) for status update.

5. Mow the lawn (last mowed in June but now receives weekly maintenance).

6. Call the OLGR again. Ask for different person.

7. Write a blog post while on the light rail to China town – for working lunch (obviously).

8. Check PO Box again. Could be late delivery that day?

9. Check home letterbox just in case OLGR mix up addresses.

10. Check OLGR website for new license notifications, just in case (1) the letter has gone missing, or (2) the person who answers the phone at the OLGR is ill informed.

11. Brainstorm job titles for yet-to-be-recruited-until-we-get-our-license employees.

12. Ring own phone to check it’s receiving calls. They could be trying to call us?

13. What a hard day. Better open a bottle for some product research.

Kampai! (soon we hope…………!)

Aunty Kampai answers the wine questions you were too afraid to ask.

Hands up if this has ever been you … You’re in a restaurant, perhaps a business lunch or dinner with someone you really like and you’re keen to make a good impression. The waiter (pretentious) hands you a leather-bound wine list. Crap. You open it to discover your options polarized between the $12 cheapie you suspect may have come from a cask and the $800 liquid gold that Paris Hilton reputedly bathes in. Not that you’d know the difference between the two of course, but that stuck-up waiter would and you don’t want to give him the satisfaction. Or ruin everyone’s dinner by choosing the wrong wine.

What do you do when faced with this dilemma? Kampai wants to help!

It’s the questions like “How to choose a wine from a restaurant wine list?” that many of us struggle with. In line with our mission of making wine fun and helping people discover their love of wine, we want to capture as many questions like this as we can, and put the answers on our website. [Our website (coming soon) includes a section called Kampai Community. It's a happy place for wine and food lovers to interact and it will be filled to the brim with info like wine hints and tips, food and wine matches, member forums and lots of other great stuff that we're yet to write.]

So this post is a request to you, Kampai friends, to give us ideas and inspiration. What sorts of wine related hints and tips would you find useful? What wine dilemmas do you face? What wine questions are you normally too afraid to ask?

Aunty Kampai is here to help…….

Kampai!

If only starting a business was as easy as watching men’s diving…

Phwoar!! Unfortunately its proving more like watching synchronised swimming or female weight-lifting. It’s hard going and kind of weird at times, but you just can’t turn away. We never thought it would be easy, but starting a business from scratch is proving tricky. Let alone an online wine business. The most common questions we get asked these days are “What’s happening with Kampai? and “Can we buy some wine from you?” (we particularly like that question).

We’re making great progress and there have been many funny moments. So this week’s entry is a progress update for our Kampai watchers out there …

First, the boring stuff: sorting out the legals, licencing, finances, insurance etc etc has been like swimming through treacle. But our licence application is finally in and we should be legal in a months time! (Fingers, toes and all available appendages crossed).

Second, the really cool and fun stuff: construction of our website (www.kampai.com.au) is underway; creating of a brand that you will all love; having fantastic discussions with wineries from around the country – we’re super excited about the wines we’ll be stocking in the cellar; attending wine courses to up our knowledge and skills; attending about five thousand industry events and talking and tasting until we can’t take it anymore (hard to believe but true); discovering some amazing wines and meeting the wonderful people who make them – we can’t wait to introduce them to you and the Kampai community in the coming months…

We could go on, but instead here’s the executive summary:

PROS:

• Not having to deal with (a) office gossip, (b) office dragon/s, (c) office politics
• Being passionate about what we’re doing!
• Having a business partner who buys you chocolate when you’re having a bad day
• Having free wine sent to us to sample (have we died and gone to heaven?)

CONS and OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS:

• Envelope stuffing and letter box dropping to half of Sydney’s inner west. Twice. (We’d better get this licence…)
• Dealing with ego-inflated industry dinosaurs who think we are lightweight girls who won’t last. You’re a great motivation boys, keep it up
• Getting drunk at wine tastings (but trying really hard not to)
• Not mastering the spitting technique (see point above)
• Splashback from the spittoon (ewwwww). (Fortunately due to the point above this hazard has been largely avoided)
• Budgeting (lack thereof) and the wrath of our accountant
• A marketing ‘budget’ (read spend) that uses our own money rather than that of a large company!!

What we said in our first post is still definitely true – starting Kampai is certainly a journey that we are loving. Especially having all of our wonderful friends and supporters encouraging us along the journey.

Thank you and stick with us… we’re almost there!

Kampai!

Kampai makes headlines in London!

Perhaps it wasn’t Kath and Kim after all.  A new theory into the demise (and possible rebirth) of chardonnay has emerged.  This time courtesy of The Guardian newspaper in the UK and the culprit – none other than the queen WAG herself, ‘Chardonnay’ from the UK series Footballer’s Wives.  If Kath and Kim didn’t kill off chardonnay then that series most definitely would have. 

Your can read the Guardian’s article here: ‘Is it OK to drink Chardonnay again?’.

We make two interesting observations from this.  Firstly, Kampai’s reputation and has gone global (it was only a matter of time).  Certainly publications like the New York Times are set to follow the lead of The Guardian and read the ‘Creating Kampai’ blog as inspiration for their social/wine commentaries. 

Secondly, its interesting that we’re not alone in our observation of the possible reincarnation of Chardonnay amongst consumers (for those game enough to give it a chance that is!)  And its made us wonder, who influences who when it comes to taste trends??  Where fashion is dictated by Milan, technology from Silicon Valley, where do the head honchos of winemakers herald from?  In the old days it would most certainly have been the French and/or Italians dictating wine styles.  But who sets the agenda today?  Who are the people predicting and deciding what we consumers will be drinking in the next five or more years? 

I don’t know the answer – I doubt there is a single source.  But its interesting that if the chardonnay trend is anything to go by, its possible that as a collective of consumers, we may have similar wine tastes after all.  Styles come in and out of favour – whether you’re enjoying your SSB with fish and chips by the Thames or by Sydney Harbour – the same styles are in vogue at about the same time (seasons notwithstanding of course). 

There is one interesting (and worrying) theory that we want to run past you: the increasing corporatisation of the wine industry is leading to mass production of wines in a much more limited range of styles.  As a result, there is a gradual influencing of the consumer palate – particularly for newer drinkers – towards mass produced, less interesting (and cheaper to produce) wines styles.  If this is true, the trend-dictators may in fact be the accountants of the big business winery owners, who are motivated by our $$, rather than the traditional winemaker who is motivated by creating beautiful wines for us all to enjoy.

I think i know who i would rather support.  Especially if they make a good chardonnay

Kampai!

PS.  Thanks to friend of Kampai and London correspondent Deb for sending us the Guardian piece!

Are you in the know when it comes to vino?

One of the most daunting aspects of creating Kampai is entering a new industry we know little about.  So we’ve thrown ourselves into the deep end of the bottle and have been attending a lot of industry events.  Tasting a lot of wine, talking to a lot of people and attending as many wine seminars as we can…what a tough job!

While out amongst the action, a few interesting wine trends seem to be emerging.  Given our reputation for carrying a penchant for 80′s music and even more recently being dubbed chardonnay-loving nannas, we thought we’d run the trends past you – check that we’re on the pulse of the zeitgeist and all. 

So read on and tell us if you too have noticed any of the following while out doing… whatever it is that trendy people do…

Organic Wine – Along with biodynamic and preservative-free wine, they’ve suffered a bad rap in the past (probably justifiably too).  But organic wines are emerging as credible in their own right, with vast improvements in quality.  And better yet they are gentle on the environment, our health and if the myths our true even gentle on our heads the morning after.  A more detailed blog on organic wine is in the works, so all we want to say now is keep your mind open and give one a go.  We think we’ll be seeing many more in the years to come as organics progress from hippie to mainstream and more wineries embrace the practices.  You can trust that we’re on the hunt for some delicious ones to stock in the Kampai cellar.

Rose – It is so easy to picture – lazy summer afternoons, BBQs with friends and pink festive fizz.  There’s no better time to ‘think pink’ than summertime in oz.  Rose in all its styles (there are a few) is on the rise with consumption increasing significantly over the past two years.  Bring on summer!

Less common varieties – Sangiovese, Barbera, Zinfandel, Petit Verdot… just a few varieties i’ve tried and enjoyed recently and wondered ‘Why did it take me so long to discover this?’  Interesting varieties (or ‘varietals’ as those in the wine-know say) are gaining popularity as people become more interested to try something new and enjoy a lighter, easy to drink style.  At a recent tasting night with friends all the usual suspects were there, however the pick of the night was a Sangiovese from Orange – the perfect partner for pizza!  

The Pinots – Gris and Noir – They are the new black (err, white in the case of Gris).  Expect to see Pinot Gris overtaking Sauvignon Blanc this summer as the drink de rigeur with the girls about town.  And for you blokes take note – nothing screams class more than a man who knows his Pinot Noir (except maybe a Martini and a sharp black suit…). 

Wine Fairs – They’ve always been around, but is it just us or do there seem to be so many more happening these days?  And they attract thousands of people.  We’re fresh from attending (and working at) the Mudgee Wine & Food Fair at Balmoral last Sunday and there are two more next week alone.  The drawcards?  A fun, social outing and the opportunity to try out some new wines and wine styles without breaking the bank.  It’s fun, its relaxed, it sounds suspiciously like Kampai!?

Any more trends that you’ve spotted?  Let us know…

Kampai!

Did Kath and Kim Kill Chardonnay?

I always thought one had to be of ‘A Certain Age’ to enjoy a chardie. Surely it takes a mature palette to appreciate the ingestion of oak tree coated with butter? Or maybe chardonnay’s street cred was buried with Kath & Kim, lost forever in the bottom of their outdoor spa.

And it isn’t just me, because I can’t think of a single girlfriend who drinks chardonnay (at least not in public), preferring the ubiquitous Sauvignon Blanc (NZ of course) or bubbles.

But recently I think I may be changing my mind.

Along with the urge to expand my horizons and drink chardonnay, I’m also noticing my tastes changing in other directions. For example I now find myself listening to ABC 702, allowing the dial to venture into FM only for MIX 106.5. Gone are the days of the J’s or FBI and I suspect that for me at least, Sauvignon Blanc is on the way out with them.

It turns out that what I thought was boring (ABC 702) and terrible (chardonnay) I’m instead finding surprisingly interesting and rewarding experiences!

For many female drinkers in our generation, chardonnay has a bum rap. I now realise that I’ve wasted years ignoring it – years! – allowing myself to be swept away by the clever marketing folk from Marlborough and paying more than I should for bottle after bottle of Sauv Blanc. Not that there’s anything wrong with Sauv Blanc. I’m not anti Sauv Blanc. It’s just that I’ve been boring and stubborn all these years, believing all chardonnay to be the same – dark yellow, oaky and heavy.

When in fact I now understand that of all white wine varieties, chardonnay is most influenced by the intervention of the winemaker, meaning the end result can be wildly different based on the style he/she is aiming for.

The trick is for us drinkers to find the style that suits us most. And that’s where the fun is.

I no longer believe that my newfound appreciation of chardie has much to do with age (certainly not with maturity). It’s more about challenging misconceptions, enjoying variety and the satisfaction of a well-matched wine with whatever it is I’m eating.

Not all chardonnays are the same and I’m loving the experience of discovering the ones that are suited to me – sometimes the wine is good and sometimes not so good! – but the experience is always fun. And that’s what it should be.

Kampai!

I come from a (dry) land down under.

Bob Hawke must be spitting stubbies (the VB variety) at our new tea-totalling, iced vo-vo-loving PM’s position against the evils that alcohol wreaks on society.  It doesn’t seem that long ago, but we’ve come a long way since the days that our leader held the country’s most famous drinking record (Hawkie drank 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds and entered the Guinness Book of Records for his achievement). 

But apparently my 3 glasses of wine over a long and civilised lunch with friends at a particularly stylish Sydney restaurant at the weekend, now catapults me into the same class as the vomiting 18 year olds they show on A Current Affair.  Hello, my name is M and i’m a binge drinker.

I’ll add it to the list of things I’m meant to feel guilty about these days.  Not signed up to Green Energy?  Check.  Water-saving shower head still in its box?  Check.  Working mother of a child under 4?  Check.  Binge drinker?  CHECK.

We don’t mean to make light of the damage alcohol can do.  In fact one of Kampai’s guiding principles is responsible consumption of alcohol.  For example, we’ll be going above and beyond the requirements of our liquor license to ensure that all Kampai consultants complete RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certification.

It has given us pause for thought though.  Along with the economic downturn, elevated living expenses and looming recession, it’s not an ideal social climate to be launching a new alcohol based business and applying for a liquor license.  Has recent media made you question your own alcohol consumption?  Do you think you might cut back on the $ you spend on wine in the near future?

Perhaps Mr Rudd might have a change of heart – after all, even a quiet alcohol-free night at the Iguana Lounge can’t guarantee heightened social behaviour.  Somehow I can’t help but feel that for some people, it’s not the alcohol that’s the problem.

Kampai!

PS.  I’m sorry, I know the showerhead thing is wrong but I must confess that a hard water stream is one of my few indulgences.  (Well, that and the binge drinking obviously).
 

Do we know where we are going?

It was an inauspicious start. Two of the four – who had been there before and allegedly knew where they were going – were leading the others through a maze of drab commercial backstreets in downtown Vancouver.

We were supposedly on our way to the out-of-the-way ‘cool part of town’ that every city has; where the funky little bars and restaurants can be found by those savvy enough to be in the know.

We were getting hungry (thirsty) and it was getting dark. And then it started to rain. Oh and it was the middle of the Canadian winter, so rather chilly for four Aussies, two of whom were then living in Singapore.

But all this is beside the point.

The point is that the meandering, searching journey that began that night marked the start of a much bigger one. One that we hope you will now become part of!

Because it was that night, after entering a bottle shop and partaking in a Canadian wine tasting (yes, Canadian wine) that the two women had a light-bulb (cork-popping?) moment and a new business idea was conceived.

And it was later that night, during a long meal at a fantastic Japanese restaurant that the business idea was fleshed out and Kampai was born.

But would Kampai still look as alluring and seductive in the morning? In the cold hard light of day, once the alcohol induced fog had cleared and the party of four ended and dispersed to their day jobs in different corners of the world – Singapore and London – would the idea still hold merit??

Two years later, back in Oz and plus one baby, the four are back and Kampai is becoming a reality!

The truth is we’re still not always sure we know where we’re going. We thought it would be good to share our experience in starting a business with you as we go, in the hope that you’ll join us on our journey and have some fun along the way.

So please visit often (weekly posts from now on…), contribute when you feel like it but most importantly, we’d love for you to get involved – in this blog, in Kampai, in sharing your experiences and of course telling all your friends about us!

Kampai!