Paul White

President

Paul has been in the wine industry for over the past 25 years. In 2005 Paul moved his operations to the Mornington Peninsula and over the next 11 years developed the largest Wine, Beer and Cider distribution business, Whitehill Wine Distributors on the Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula and West Coast. His key to success has always been having a “hands on approach” with his clients, talking through their specific needs and offering extensive knowledge on his portfolio including food matching and wine list development for degustation menus. In 2016 the business was sold to a great team, James, Clare and Dylan who now call the business “Four Pours”. His daughter, Katrina took over the Bellarine and West Coast regions.

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Paul has been involved with all aspects of the International Cool Climate Wine Show (ICCWS), initially as a steward, then an associate judge and now a judge.

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“The ICCWS is by far the best wine show of its type in Australia and it is an honour to be involved with, the calibre of the judges, the venue, the great number of entrants and most of all reviewing Cool Climate wines is just so rewarding.”

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Paul, having been in a range of businesses for 40 years, brings to the Chairmanship a great wealth of skills and knowledge.

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More recently, he has been invited to Italy to review wines and attend various show in Florence and other regions.

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Paul  now has the time to be able to consult to boutique wineries, both locally and in Europe, to arrange marketing, import and distribution of their wines.

Kevin Wyatt

Vice President / Secretary

Kevin's first formal introduction to wine was with a Wine Tasting Class undertaken by Jenny Polack in the late 90’s. Since then he has taken many opportunities to better appreciate wines in general but particularly, cool climate wines.

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Kevin is very happy to be combining with such an enthusiastic Committee of Management and Event Managers to:

• Provide a wine show where local producers can compare their wines against other cool climate wines from around the world

• Provide opportunities to further promote the importance of cool climate wines in the wine industry

• Provide opportunities to enable individuals to participate in Wine Show Judging at all levels

Peter Wilcox

Treasurer

Peter Wilcox is an accountant, with his firm based on Mornington Peninsula for over 30 years and is bringing his experience and knowledge in assisting local businesses with sound practical advice to the ICCWS Inc COM. Peter has attended a number of the International Cool Climate Wine Show events and is keen to assist in the growth and expansion of this show.

Peter has been involved with Mornington Peninsula wine and food groups for many years and has attended several wine master classes during that time.

A keen traveller, Peter is always able to make room for visiting or staying at a local, interstate or international winery - great places to learn about viticulture and wines.

His favourite destinations include our Mornington Peninsula vineyards, the Coonawarra and the Barossa in South Australia plus the wineries of Bordeaux and New Zealand.

Peter says "There is always time to enjoy a wine and keen to further my appreciation for it!!  Let’s all set aside time to do so!"

Kirsty Thomas-Thoeun

C.O.M. / Events & Marketing Manager

Kirsty has strong passion for Wines, Culinary Experiences & Wine Tourism.  With 25 years Luxury Travel & Tourism Industry experience in Sales, Marketing & Business Development roles, working in her own businesses & for some of Southeast Asia, India & Sri Lanka’s most respected travel companies.

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As a Luxury Travel Advisor based on the Mornington Peninsula & member of exclusive Virtuoso Luxury Network, Kirsty has created & organised Culinary Food & Wine Journeys worldwide for Small groups & individuals including many of the world’s wine regions.

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A keen traveller, Kirsty has travelled to many countries including throughout wine regions in Australia, NZ, Croatia & South Africa. Favourites wines include Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir, oaked Chardonnays  & love the Sparkling wines coming from Tasmanian winemakers.

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Always keen to learn more Kirsty has completed WSET Levels 1 & 2 Awards in Wine & Spirits, Diploma in Travel &Tourism Management, Diploma in Business Leadership & Management and is currently undertaking a Diploma of Social Media Marketing.

Robert Bowan

C.O.M. 

Raised on the Mornington Peninsula, Robert Bowman has more than 20 years’ experience in business and an appreciation for the local wine industry.  Robert is pleased to bring his business knowledge and love of wine to the to the Committee of Management and has spent time as an auctioneer of premium and super premium wines for an auction house in Melbourne.

Robert’s love of wine and travel has seen him visit many of the wine regions throughout Australia and abroad including spending six months in the Tuscan wine region where he immersed himself in the wine culture and enjoyed the experience of visiting door to door.

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Terryn Hickinbotham

C.O.M.

Terryn studied Science, majoring in Botany and Microbiology.  On completing her BSc she was employed at the Melbourne University Botany Dept in the Pollen Biology Centre of Excellence for 13 years.

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For 5 years, the Hickinbotham family ran the Mt Anakie Vineyard owned by the Maltby family near Geelong. This is where Terryn & her husband Andrew, spent their weekends, at the vineyard, in the winery and in the cellar door learning everything about the wine industry from soil to bottle. This time was an experiment in wine regions, with fruit sourced from Gippsland, Tasmania, Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine, and Avoca to assess the flavour profiles, and structure inherent in wines from these regions.

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Without fail the wines from the Mornington Peninsula came up trumps year in year out, particularly with regards to Pinot noir and Chardonnay, hence their preference for purchasing land at Dromana, and for championing these varieties.

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They moved permanently to their Dromana vineyard in 1990 where we grew vine rootlings in their on-site nursery for other vineyard plantings on the Mornington Peninsula. During this time, in conjunction with Chisholm TAFE, they conducted classes and on-site training sessions for vineyard trainees on pruning techniques, vine physiology and general vine maintenance.

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Terryn has travelled overseas to various viticultural regions to improve their knowledge of growing and wine making techniques for Pinot and Chardonnay.

Each weekend they conduct wine tastings with education as a great part of their offering. This has been integral to their cellar door experience. 

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Terryn is looking forward to bringing her broad experience within the industry, and as a wine show competitor, to the Committee of Management.

Heather Morris

C.O.M. 

Heather has had a long and happy association with wine and food.  She spent 20 years front of house at her two restaurants, Parmigiana in Glen Iris and Feathers in Canterbury, then spent her later career in administration and business management.  Her lifelong enjoyment in hosting wine and food tables began with the Jo Jones Monday Lunch Table at Forest Hill Cellar where she shared many convivial and instructive masked tastings, along the way improving her knowledge of wine.

A passion for combining her love of food, wine and travel has taken her to many wine regions - Piedmonte, The Gallura/Sardinia, Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rutherglen, Coonawarra and the other gorgeous Australian valleys of the Barossa, Eden, Hunter, King, Yarra and Clare.  Now living in Mornington, on the bucket list are the local cool climate wineries as well as Tasmania. 

She is never happier than when sharing a special bottle of wine at table with family and friends.  Heather was thrilled to be invited to join the committee and is an active and enthusiastic member of the ICCWS team.

William Bond

C.O.M.

William Bond has a successful wine distribution business - The Bond Store - here on the Mornington Peninsula.  William has personally selected all the wines distributed by The Bond Store, which currently represents boutique wine makers from Australia, France, Italy and Austria.  He has also established his own wine brand "Mr Bond".

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William has a family history in the wine business.  His father was a wine judge for the Jimmy Watson Trophy held at the Royal Show each year.  His father passed his knowledge of wine varieties to him, and now William is now doing the same with his daughter, who runs The Bond Store.

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William has had much experience over many different levels of business, as well as across many varying fields of enterprise.   He also currently co-hosts a program discussing wine, on local Mornington Peninsula radio station RPPFM. 

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William is looking forward to bringing his knowledge and varied experience to the ICCWS Inc COM.

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Linda Erskine

C.O.M.

Linda has over 30 years’ experience in marketing and sales with major advertising agencies and corporations. She has worked in a range of industry sectors including Tertiary Education, Pharmaceuticals and Retail. Commencing as an Account Manager and then moving to Senior Account Management roles, Linda was then invited to join the Senior Management Team at Fuji Xerox Global Services in Sydney.

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In her various roles, Linda delivered a range of services to major brands such as Coca Cola, Mars, Kraft, Astra Zeneca, RMIT, Swinburne University and many more companies. These services included product research, strategy development, process development/refinement, campaign management and event planning/execution.

For four years Linda worked with a wine distribution company where her clients included QANTAS, Nutrimetrics, and AAMI. “I am looking forward to being part of the ICCWS team and contributing to the success of the next show on the magnificent Mornington Peninsula.”

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Having moved to the Mornington Peninsula from Sydney in 2015 Linda has successfully undertaken two home renovation projects and is planning a third. When co-vid has passed, she will be returning to the Dromana Tourist Information Centre where she is an active volunteer.

Frank La Monica

C.O.M.

Frank has had experience across many differing areas.  However the experience he brings to our committee of management steams from his 28 years being the owner/manager of delicatessens & restaurants, numerous years across other areas of the hospitality field, including bars, hotels and reception centres.  

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Frank has also been a valuable steward for our event for numerous years now, and his involvement with the ICCWS goes back further, when he would host our judges dinners in his wonderful local restaurant "La Monica's" and even provided private catering for different ICCWS functions.  Frank is fluent in Italian and is hoping to assist with bring more Italian wine entries into our event.

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Frank is looking forward to his involvement on the COM.

Will Vialls

C.O.M.

Will has been working in hospitality for over thirty-five years.  Starting at the Greater Union Russell street cinemas in the early 1980's, ending up as Candy Bar/Merchandising Manager. This led to becoming the Duty Manager Cinema Nova for three years.  Will was then approached by the management from the Frankston RSL to assist with the relaunch of the bistro in 2006 and then Cracked Pepper in 2012.  During this time with the RSL he was promoted to Beverage Manager, where his true passion for wine began. 

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Paul White was a terrific mentor and suggested that Will experience wine making from the ground up. Will went to wineries and got his “hands dirty” learning as much as he could about viticulture and to explore all aspects of wine making. This included Master Classes with Sommeliers Australia, The Wine Society, Armadale Cellars and various wine courses.

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Travel is also one of his great passions - this of course includes wine. One of the highlights of his last European trip was a visit to Budapest where he did a course on Hungarian wine.

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Will is currently working at the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery Café, which sees him cover many different areas within the café which is wonderful.  

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Will has enjoyed being a wine steward for the International Cool Climate Wine Show for a few years now, and was thrilled to be invited to make the move into the ICCWS Inc COM.  He is looking forward to what this role will give him and what he can bring to it.