Meet the team: Western Australian Premium Food Centre’s Phil May
When it came to searching for the right person to manage the Western Australian Premium Food Centre, experience in the luxury end of the agrifood sector seemed a must.
So when Phil May came along, a man who has been involved in the wine-making industry for 35 years with experience selling into Asian markets, the fit seemed just right.
From an early age Phil knew he wanted to be a winemaker. He joined his wine-making uncle on his property in South Australia’s Clare Valley on school holidays in 1979 and never looked back.
After completing his Agricultural Science studies, with a major in viticulture, he began his first vineyard management role in 1983.
Three years later he was offered a role in winery management and learned his winemaking skills under the direction of consulting winemakers, including the creator of Penfold’s Grange Hermitage, the late Max Schubert.
After stints at different wineries in South Australia and Victoria, the temptation to become a pioneer in Western Australia’s (WA) largely unknown Pemberton wine region resulted in a move to Manjimup in 1991. He was given the opportunity to develop and launch the Smithbrook wine brand, with responsibilities for vineyard, winemaking and business management. Aided by wine show success and third party endorsements, Smithbrook gained a public profile that attracted several parties interest in buying the business and it sold in 1997.
After the sale of Smithbrook, Phil established a Manjimup-based wine industry consultancy servicing all of WA. In 2001, he undertook a consulting assignment in China, which marked the beginning of many regular forays into Asia.
Soon into the new millennium, the Australian wine sector began to change. Increased production and reduced grape prices threatened the viability of the industry.
To move with the times, Phil worked with his consulting client base to establish a collaborative winemaking entity —The Growers wine company was founded and Phil moved to Margaret River.
Winemaking, vineyard development and finding international markets have all been part of his varied career and is a great foundation from which to direct the Western Australian Premium Food Centre.
However, it is his knowledge of brand building and identifying market opportunities that is likely to be of most benefit to the role.
“An ability to identify gaps in the market and then fill the gaps with a product demanded by the market will assist in attaining sales success,” Phil said. “It has been a strategy that has historically worked well for me. I identified an opportunity to export Australian wine into China and, although it took a few years to develop, in the financial year ending 2008, one in every three bottles of Western Australian wine going into China, was wine I had made.”
The Global Financial Crisis encouraged Phil to look to identify new market gaps.
“Online wine sales was one such identified market opportunity,” he said. “Before it was common practice, I moved into transactional wine buying website development”.
His career highlights include a multi award-winning riesling he produced from the 2004 vintage that was dedicated to his uncle.
“However, more than any winemaking, vineyard development or sales success, I am proud to have continued with the pursuit of my winemaking passion for as long as I did,” he said.
Phil has been excited to return to Manjimup and establish and manage the Western Australian Premium Food Centre.
“The future of the WA premium agrifood sector is bright and the opportunities are only limited by our imagination,” he said. “Western Australia enjoys a wide range of soil and climate options, produces agrifoods that are recognised as safe and clean, is well located to service the growing economies within Asia and has the skills base to capture market priorities.”