Little over a year after opening, PepperGreen Estate's cellar door and tasting room in Berrima have been nominated for excellence in customer service in the Illawarra Business Chamber awards.
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"The team were very excited," brand ambassador Jewel Brown said. "It's a huge acknowledgement for all the hard work that they've put in over the last year."
PepperGreen Estate is a 130-acre winery and a 130-acre olive grove in Canyonleigh, owned since 2016 by Hank Chiu and Katrina Liao. The cellar door and tasting room were opened in Berrima's former antique shop in June last year to showcase their wines and serve matched French-inspired food.
"We've really broken down the shackles of what the traditional wine-tasting experience has been like," Ms Brown said. "That I think is what makes us very popular in the eyes of the customers."
But there's more to PepperGreen than fine dining. "Our customer service is not just come to our venue, we'll service you with food and wine; we're almost like a little tourist hub," Ms Brown said.
The Business Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony on October 16. Moss Vale-based accounting firm Argyle Professionals has also been nominated.
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PepperGreen Estate aims to become the premier purveyor of wine and olives in the Southern Highlands. Their wines have already won awards both in Australia and overseas, including London and Japan.
But their tasting room tailors its experiences both to wine connoisseurs and to people who know nothing about wine but want to learn.
"People have said our staff are engaging and approachable," Ms Brown said. "They can teach and educate people about wine, the origins of those wines, and what cheese goes beautifully with a Tempranillo. That's where we really shine when it comes to customer service."
The tasting room provides visual guides, like little tasting cards; they show the wine bottle, with (for instance) pictures of blueberries and strawberries.
"A connoisseur might say a wine has notes of blueberries and strawberries; but the average Joe Blow doesn't understand that," Ms Brown said. "These visual guides break it down into a really simple form for them. On the other side, it explains the more technical, traditional way of explaining wine notes."
The wine guides have been very popular, Ms Brown said, and word of mouth has brought more customers to the tasting room.
As PepperGreen's business expands, Ms Brown said, they want to promote Berrima as a tourist destination and help build the community.
After their visitors have lunch at Pepper Green, staff suggest historical walks, visiting the museum or the old gaol, and buying jam from Mrs Oldbucks Pantry or sweets from the Lolly Swagman. Visitors often return a couple of months later, and stay in local accommodation. PepperGreen works closely with B&Bs and motels in the area, as well as with Tourism Australia.
"PepperGreen's been quite fortunate in that it's had a lot of media exposure nationally and internationally; we always try in that to promote Berrima, not just our venue," Ms Brown said. "As we eventually get back to pre-COVID, we're working on some big global exposure."
Expanding into hospitality nine months before COVID brought dining and wining to a halt could have spelt disaster. PepperGreen, however, moved to an online platform, and telephoned regular customers who weren't tech savvy.
"We were very lucky that we worked really hard from the very beginning of launching the building that we established quite a loyal customer base, and built a wonderful relationship with them," Ms Brown said. "We were able to still service their needs, and provide them with their much-needed wine."
"It also gave us a chance as part of our community involvement to check in with people and make sure they were okay. We would write little notes just to say: 'We're thinking of you - if there's anything you need, let us know.' As we're going back into a world where we're open, lovely people are coming in and saying 'Thank you so much'. That simple gesture was really nice."