A Third 'Legend' for the Peninsula
Crittenden now joins other Peninsula identities, former restaurateur Herman Schneider and gardening guru Clive Blazey of Heronswood, as co-legends in the
20 year old awards, which are administered by an independent jury of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.
Each year the festival announces a handful of new inductees into their prestigious hall of fame – people who are considered to be leaders, ground breakers and visionaries of Victoria’s food and wine industry.
Nominees for the wine industry category of the awards need to have “ through sheer passion or hard work, achieved success with a new varietal or a tricky new grape growing or winemaking technique, or produced benchmark Victorian wines”.
The founder of Dromana Estate Vineyards, and now director of Crittenden Estate Wines, was nominated for “ his pioneering work in introducing new grape varietals to Victoria, including barbera, nebbiolo, dolcetto and sangiovese, his commitment to the development of the Mornington Peninsula wine region and for inspiring many Australian winemakers”.
In 2001 Crittenden co-wrote a seminal publication ‘Italian Winegrape Varieties in Australia’ for the industry.
What is not mentioned in the award citation, but is well known to many long time members of the Victorian tourism industry, is that during the mid 1990s, as chairman of the then regional tourism body, Crittenden started to close the wide gap between the Peninsula’s wine and tourism sectors.
More information on – SeaHaze, Crittenden Estate, Dromana Township
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