TWO of the best-known names in WA wine are striking out on their own, partly to have a bit of fun but also to start a new business, and possibly to help launch the career of a brilliant young winemaker.
After many years working with one of Perth's renowned master restaurateurs, two of the city's brightest stars are going out on their own, as Julie-anne Sprague reports.
GOUNDREY Wines last week completed bottling the first batch of its new label, Offspring, a wine that forms part of a 2004 product growth strategy for the Mt Barker-based winery.
David Pike has drawn big red circles around February 9 and 10 in his work diary, as that's when the best of the world's rieslings will be at Frankland Estate's international t
WHAT was conceived as a simple operation offering a couple of do-it-yourself barbecues and tapas-style food has become a five-star restaurant called Chesters of Heafod Glen.
HE may have created one of Perth's best-known coffee shop chains and be busily building up his next hospitality empire, but Geoff Hayward (pictured above) is not one to broadcast his achievements.
David Pike has emerged from the recent holiday period refreshed and enthusiastically positive. He's certainly not buying in to the gloomy forecast for the local wine industry.
A recent trip to the US provided Perth chef Mark Taylor with a new business that may be the food industry's most significant outsourcing development, as Julie-anne Sprague reports.
THE founders of Gage Roads Brewing Co expect to produce their first batch of beer by September this year following the recent completion of a $2.5 million capital raising.
A NEW-LOOK e'cucina will open later this month featuring more street exposure that is hoped will boost night and weekend trade, according to owner Steve Smith.
It's not easy to pick the best of the year's wine industry events or tastings, particularly when you've been invited to so many, but David Pike does his best.
Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group is well on the way to ensuring its infectious mix of food and drink becomes the first choice for Perth pub goers, as Julie-anne Sprague reports.
While David Pike is yet to take up a long-standing invitation to visit senior winemaker Nicole Esdaile and the team at Capel Vale, this week he tastes through his back catalogue and looks at some of the work they've been doing.
The city's suits are expected to flock to Bar One when it opens this week. The latest venture from Geoff Hayward and Stephen Scaffidi will deliver light, contemporary food with a focus on simplicity, as Julie-anne Sprague reports.
One of the special events this weekend involves world rugby domination ... the other some of the State's best wines. More familiar with a reisling than a ruck, David Pike gives us his spin on the Great Wine Estates auction.
Those in the know are tipping strong growth in coffee shop chains and espresso bars for Perth in the not-too-distant future. Julie-anne Sprague talks to one operator who's dipping a toe early in proceedings.
Back home after her six-week culinary soujourn through Europe, Gusto's Julie-anne Sprague leafs through her trip diary and provides us with some of her favourites tastes of the Continent.
Xanadu will provide its Lagan Reserve 1999 for auction at the Great Wine Estates Auction later this month. David Pike takes a look at the winery and its success.
