Uncover Australian wines with Petersons

We dropped into Petersons tasting room at Dempsey Hill for a chat with their Singaporean-based Sales Manager, Joe Keats. As the island’s only winery-operated tasting room, Petersons has been hosting ANZA wine tastings since 2017, and is a major sponsor of wine for ANZA events. Joe is also a member of the ANZA Executive Committee.

Petersons is a family-owned business back in Oz. Please tell us more …
Petersons goes back three generations and was founded by Shirley and Ian Peterson in 1981. I worked for the family for a couple of years before I even knew they’d been crowned Champion Small Winery of Australia, Best Chardonnay in Australia, winner of the QANTAS International Wine Challenge (FRA, USA, AUS), and more. Arguably, what’s more important is the huge amount of support Petersons gives to the community, not-for-profits, and charities, both in Australia and Singapore. I always joke that part of my job is to do the bragging for them!

Who looks after the business now?
Shirley and Ian’s son Colin drove the process of getting them established here in Singapore. Colin’s daughter Savannah is the third-generation winemaker in the family. The whole family is incredibly supportive of their staff, and Colin has always empowered us to make decisions.

How long have you been based in lovely Dempsey?
Petersons has been operating a tasting room in Singapore since 2017, but we moved from Emerald Hill Road to Dempsey in 2024. As a side project, I opened Deviate Wine Bar next door in 2023. When we got the chance to take over the adjacent building, we jumped at it. It’s a magical oasis around there.

What’s your background with Petersons?
Although I’m originally from New Zealand, I moved to Australia from Europe in 2009 and worked across Petersons’ properties in the Hunter Valley, mostly in cellar doors and hosting tastings. When the Singapore tasting idea was floated, I volunteered to help out.

What made Petersons choose the red dot?
A lot of Singaporean visitors to the Hunter Valley were asking for wine to be shipped over. It’s pretty expensive to do that one case or two at a time, so we had the idea to send a shipping container instead. That reduced the cost per bottle on freight dramatically, though the taxes stayed the same! It soon became obvious we needed a presence on the ground here.

“I’m really lucky to be selling quality booze, not flogging average wine with fancy labels”

How did the company cope during Covid?
Luckily, we’d been established for a couple of years before it hit. We had a small but wonderful crew here in Singapore keeping things running, initially Ting Yan, then the fantastic Caroline came on board. We also had some talented cellar door crew from Australia flying up regularly to host tastings and events. There are too many people to list them all here, but without the likes of Jax, Lisa, Steve, Hugh, Jason, and various Michaels, we wouldn’t be here today.

Didn’t you guys pivot quite nicely?
We introduced “Zoom tastings” during the pandemic, which were lots of fun. By chance, we had 600 small medicine-style bottles on hand, so we offered members the chance to sign up for online tastings which turned out to be a massive hit.

What makes Petersons different?
I’m really lucky to be selling quality booze – not flogging average wine with fancy labels – and doing it for employers who treat people with respect, give back to the community, and are genuinely innovative. But ultimately, it’s all about the people. I’ve met literally tens of thousands of people in my role in Singapore, which is amazing – although my memory often struggles to keep up!

What’s next for Petersons in Singapore?
We’ve been renovating our Dempsey tasting room, and a new shipment that arrived in January means we have some fantastic new wines on board. This year we’ll continue running our occasional dinners around the island, which are always a great time.

You’ll remain focused on tastings though?
Absolutely yes, our bread and butter is hosting tastings. I honestly believe we have the best-value wines in SG, and we’re the only people – as far as I know – doing what we do. When you visit us, you’re buying directly from the winery. A surprising number of our customers still haven’t visited the Dempsey tasting room yet, so we encourage everyone to email us to book in, whether you’re two people or 25. We can also host tastings offsite.

Petersons Wine
71 Loewen Rd, 01-05, 248847
 +65 8499 9622
 [email protected]
 www.petersonswines.com.sg