Brendan & Laura Carter
One of the worst droughts in history. Bushfires. Then Covid-19. Has 2020 proved challenging? ‘Uh... hell, yeah,’ quips Brendan Carter, who, together with his wife Laura, runs the Unico Zelo winery in the Adelaide Hills, specialising in dry-grown Italian varieties, particularly Fiano and Nero d’Avola.
The couple swiftly transitioned from being 80% reliant on broader distribution to building a business in which 50% of sales are direct-to-customer. ‘We always had online set up as a sales channel, but rarely focused on it. Now we’re having rolling re-lockdowns across Australia, it’s how we sell most of our wine – it’s had an impact on our ability to survive.’
But the Carters’ online rejig didn’t stop at sales. They started a live-streamed wine show called Wine For The People ‘to give those locked up an avenue to decompress at the end of the working day, and a sense of community’.
The show aired on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitch, and featured winemakers, chefs, waiters, bartenders and distillers, incorporating deliberately offbeat themes like ‘Shit Wine Inventions’ and ‘Junk Food Wine Pairings’, ‘all the while chatting about the industry across myriad subjects, from Barolo to Burgundy to Barossa’.
Over eight weeks, Unico Zelo’s Facebook following grew from 5,000 to 69,000 globally, and now the couple have signed a lease on a studio to expand into podcasting and broader cinematography. They also plan to embark on a journey across Australia to tell the stories of rural communities.
‘There’s an endless sea of amazing stories to tell in this industry, especially through the lens of a millennial. It’s time we engaged with younger demographics in a relevant and entertaining manner. Lockdown has helped this happen – and about time, too.’