Variety of Oz wine impresses Wine Australia scholarship winner

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 23 November, 2015

UK wine drinkers should explore a wider variety of Australian wines, the winner of the 2015 winner of the Daniel Pontifex Scholarship has said.

Quinby Frey, events and tasting manager for Cambridge Wine Merchants, won the scholarship earlier this year.

It has enabled her to spend a week visiting the vineyards of South Australia and to travel with nine industry guests of Wine Australia to the Margaret River Gourmet Escape festival.

"One message that I shall be keen to take back with me will be to encourage people to try some of the newer styles and varieties," she said.

"I have an enormous amount of respect for the way that the Australian producers whom I have met on this trip each maintain their own character, creativity and individual approach within a competitive and challenging trade.

"I would like to think that their example will be something that will shape my career going forward."

This year, the scholarship was awarded by a panel of judges comprising Laura Jewell MW, Wine Australia head of market UK; restaurateur Rowley Leigh; Alessandro Marchesan, sommelier and previous winner of the scholarship; and David Gleave MW, managing director of Liberty Wines.

A short-list of six was selected from a record number of applicants, but Quinby's submission stood out, Jewell said.

"Quinby impressed the judges with her enthusiasm and inspirational desire to share her knowledge of wine," she added.

"In her education role with Cambridge Wine Merchants she will be able to use the experiences gained during her visit to the regions of Australia to great effect."

The Daniel Pontifex Scholarship is run by Wine Australia in partnership with The Daniel Pontifex Memorial Trust.

It supports up-and-coming hospitality professionals by providing them with an educative visit to Australia's vineyards.

The scholarship was established in 1998 to celebrate the life of Daniel Pontifex, a young Australian who was killed in a car accident while working at Kensington Place restaurant in London.

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