Ben Riggs - Australia (McLaren Vintners)

Name: Ben Riggs

Currently: Director at McLaren Vintners Pty Ltd

Sito web: www.mrriggs.com.au, www.mclarenvintners.com.au

Questions:

Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed?

Well I’m not entirely sure but at about 13 or 14 I decided that’s what I wanted to do I think driven by my enjoyment of the viticulture part of my High School Ag Science course as well as my father's enjoyment and interest in wine.

What is your philosophy to making wine and viticulture?

Basically I have two strong drivers, firstly I passionately believe that although we all have our own styles there is no point making wines that your customers don’t enjoy drinking, secondly I also love the opportunity that my Generation series gives me to make the wines I love to drink like my German style Ein Riese off dry Riesling, Montepulciano, Tempranillo, Grenache from a 100 plus year old vineyard etc

Which cultivar is your favourite to work with and why?

I love em all but Shiraz would be my most important

How do you see the future of wine production and what are the challenges and the opportunities?

I doubt wine production will go away but the greatest changes over the last 25 years have been way higher quality across the board, way more consistency and to a certain extent more complexity as vineyards have matured and winemakers have tested themselves more.

Where do you see the global wine market in 2025?

Tough question but I can’t imagine that in 10 years China hasn’t created a massive premium wine market along with the US growing its premium wine consumption so I can see an upside just hard to look through the fog that the industry is in at the moment.

Ben Riggs

@ by Dominik Kozlik – Zeitgeist Sommeliers - www.sommelier-jobs.com