Brendan Carter, 2013 Sydney Royal Wine Scholarship recipient
It was the French who really got Brendan Carter into the wine industry.
Holidaying around Europe after finishing high-school, Brendan decided, largely on a whim, to ‘do the loop’ of a few wine regions ticking Bordeaux, Loire, Cognac, Provence, Burgundy and more off his list.
Finally he landed in Champagne and didn’t want to leave. “I was genuinely inspired by the folks (there),” Brendan recalls. After a few months he found himself at Veuve Clicquot, with winemaker Francois Hautekeur quickly convincing Brendan to study oenology.
Fast forward to late 2012 and Brendan’s Adelaide University winemaking lecturer mentioned the Sydney Royal Wine Scholarship. “At that stage I was still quite unsure of myself, and what I wanted to do in the wine industry - be that working on the consumer side or on the production side,” Brendan says. “When the scholarship was mentioned, it seemed like a great way to find out what happens when these worlds collide.”
It was Brendan’s eager attitude and enthusiasm that caught the judges’ attention and why he was ultimately chosen as the inaugural winner of the Sydney Royal Wine Scholarship. While the cash prize was welcome, the more useful side of the scholarship was something more unexpected – the business connections. “The scholarship gave me introductions to those with the skills and integrity to be a wine show judge - most often, these are senior people in our industry with a wealth of knowledge and experience,” he said. “They’ve fast-become good friends, suppliers and even customers of ours. I didn’t realise how important that would be at the time.”
Indeed the scholarship kick-started a massive few years for Brendan, who graduated with a Bachelor of Viticulture & Oenology in 2014 and already had a wine business – Unico Zelo – in the works. This label, run with his winemaking wife Laura (they met at university), has been a runaway success, to the point where the pair were crowned ‘People’s Choice’ at the 2015 Young Guns of Wine Awards.
And if that wasn’t enough, Brendan now has three other projects in the mix. Applewood Distillery, in which he is now crafting two homegrown alternatives to Aperol and Campari produced from native Australian botanicals; A sustainability program called ‘Harvest Wine’, where half the profits from wine labels are given straight back to struggling growers, and a new perfume brand called Nomad.
The challenge that Brendan now faces is achieving so much so quickly, some conservative people in the industry believe he lacks credibility. The scholarship has been useful here too. “Knowledge and experience earns respect in my opinion. Being involved in the scholarship gave me a steep learning curve that may not have happened until I was well into my 40s! A fair few people have witnessed our involvement in the wider industry since, and in that sense, it’s certainly been helpful.”
Visit unicozelo.com.au to find out more about Unico Zelo and Brendan and Laura’s initiatives.
