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John Worontschak
About us
John Worontschak is a leading winemaker and wine business development consultant with over 25 years of international experience in both large and small wineries on every continent. John’s winemaking philosophy is a hybrid of the New World and the Old: a modern winemaking approach that blends traditional local winemaking knowledge with modern procedural and analytical and financial controls. His goal is ensure wines reveal the unique typicity of variety, style and place. His commitment to the international wine industry prompted him to establish the International Sparkling Wine Symposium in 2009. John undertakes: Vineyard planning Winery design and build Production consultancy Investment due diligence Management advice World-wide sales and marketing Wine judging and communication John is a senior consultant for Four Corners Consultancy Ltd. International sales of his clients’ wines are facilitated by Litmus Wines Ltd.
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Profile
John completed his BSc in Winemaking in 1984 and was awarded the prestigious Ron Potter Scholarship after being inspired into the wine world by Australian winemaking legend Brian Croser whilst he was studying Geology at Adelaide University. After working as Assistant Winemaker at Campbell's winery in Rutherglen, and Saltrams in the Barossa Valley, John embarked on a five-year world tour. By hemisphere-hopping he rapidly built his knowledge of world wine production practices. As one of the first “flying winemakers” John worked for Yalumba, Penfolds (Nooriotpa, Yenda and Loxton) in Australia, Clos du Bois in California, Hugels in Alsace and Domain Tim Marshall in Nuits St Georges, Burgundy during the 1980’s Settling in England in 1990 John set up Harvest Wine Consultancy based at the Thames Valley Vineyard in Twyford, Berkshire, where he developed a client base of English vineyards and wineries, and helped transform the English wine industry. The succeeding years saw Harvest’s clients win many English wine awards, including the The Gore-Brown trophy – the top accolade - five out of six years. Following this success, John formed the Harvest Wine Group, a co-operative marketing venture, which worked to cement the place of English wines on British high street retail shelves. In 1993 John began consulting to wineries worldwide. His first venture was to the Czech Republic. Since then wine making and consultancy projects have taken him to Australia, Canada, USA, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, France (Provence, Bordeaux, Alsace and the Loire), Germany, Spain (Valencia and La Mancha), Italy (Friuli, Tuscany, Campania, The Marche, Sicily, Sardinia and Trentino) Romania, Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, Moldova, India and South Africa. Today John is a sought-after wine business consultant. He is a panel chair at the International Wine Challenge, and judges for the International Wine and Spirit Competition and Decanter Magazine. He is also regular contributor to industry debates and commentator to the trade and popular press. John lives in Notting Hill Gate London with his wife and two sons.
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Projects
Myskhako Winery Novorossisk, Russia Set up and planning in all aspects of wine production, marketing and sales for a hyper premium privately-owned 600 hectare estate winery. Now regarded as the best winery in Russia. Fanagoria Winery, Temryuk Russia Re-structuring of all aspects in the production of this 2000 Ha estate and the establishment of its first premium wine styles. Dalton Winery, Israel Provision of design and build consultancy for a new instillation winery, designed to produce ultra premium, boutique kosher wines from this 800 tonne winery is now one of the most financially successful wineries in Israel. Casa Madero, Mexico Market reorientation and production redesign for a spirit-based company moving into production of premium 1000 tonne winery. Consider to be the finest winemaker in Mexico. Denbies Wine Estate, UK Production consultancy, wine style development and market evaluation and penetration for wines from this 100 hectare estate – the largest vineyard and winery in the UK. Host to the inaugural International Sparkling Wine Symposium. Indus Wines, Nasik, India Design of the first gravity flow premium winery in India. Consultation and implementation of procedures to produce a range of dry and off dry premium Indian wines. Turtle Hill, Sandanski, Bulgaria Planning and development of a 20 Ha Vineyard to produce premium red Bulgarian wines. Consulting to produce wines in satellite wineries for sale internationally. Urbuz, Izmir, Turkey Employed to create Turkeys finest red wines in this boutique ultra premium winery. Ehrmanns Group PLC Project winemaking services for this UK based wine import agency to supply Tesco supermarket with own label wines as a “flying winemaker” including feasibility studies to determine the potential market opportunities for product development in wineries and vineyards in Hungary, Cyprus and Ukraine. Falls Creek Vineyard, USA Evaluation of production and wine styles for this boutique Texan winery, specialising in wine for the premium US market. Douglas Green Bellingham, South Africa Design and development (vineyard, fermentation processes, packaging) for Douglas Green wine brand and acting as “brand champion” in the UK market with agent Western Wines. Graham Beck Wines, South Africa Production consultation in this premium South African winery to improve the product range for international focus. Sasslove Winery, Israel Production consultancy for this boutique winery in Israel, focused on the domestic kosher wine market. Segal Winery, Israel Production consultancy for this mid-sized winery in Israel, focused on the international wine market. Valley Vineyards, UK Design, build and implementation of modern winery at this 200 tonnes winery in Berkshire, UK Operation of a contract winemaking service for smaller English vineyards. Harvest Wine Consultancy UK Consultant Winemaker to Pilton Manor, Sharpham Vineyard, Taplow, Moorlynch, Mersea Island, Hidden Springs, Wickham and Harvest Wine Group, UK Creation of a 13 client/member vineyard co-operative to market and promote English wines to the UK multiples. Yalumba Winery, Australia Scientific assessment of phenolic extraction during whole berry pressing for the production of quality sparkling wines. Clos du Bois, California, USA Detailed assessment of safety in the workplace for this quality, mid-sized winery in the Sonama County, a premium wine region of the USA. Southcorp, Penfolds, Australia Provision of production vintage winemaking services at Yenda, Loxton and Nuriootpa wineries, with a total production responsibility of 10 million litres. Hugels et Fils, Alsace, France Vintage winemaking services for the vintage period for this premium French house. Domaine Marshall, Burgundy, France Vintage winemaking services for the vintage period for this premium French house. Batapati, Hungary Dolianova Sardinia Other projects Sparkling Wine Symposium Instigator and co-coordinator of the Inaugural International Sparkling Wine Symposium held at Denbies Wine Estate on 18th March 2009. European Bank of Reconstruction and Development Report of production capabilities and market potential of the Moldovan wine industry and investment recommendation. Western NIS Enterprise Fund, Moldova Engaged by a venture capital group to perform due diligence on three Moldovan Wineries and provide in-depth analysis and recommendations.
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Clients
John currently works with the clients below:
Casa Madero, Mexico Dalton Winery, Israel Myskhako, Russia Fanagoria, Russia Turtle Hill, Bulgaria Denbies Wine Estate, England |
Contact
Telephone: + 44 (0) 7714718980 Fax: +44 (0) 207 229 8581
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