Talk with Shaynna Blaze 

SHAYNNA BLAZE

Not at all! My parents organised an alcohol-free party for their wedding, which just goes to show! The only bottles they bought were awful German sweet wines sold by a door-to-door salesman. Also, Australians drink a lot of beer and cans of wine cooler, a mixture of wine and fruit juice, usually sparkling and sweet. So it didn’t bode well! 

SHAYNNA BLAZE

To earn some money, I waited tables in restaurants. There were no sommeliers so I had to learn about wine for the customers. I was 20 and I realised that the wine world could be fantastic. It was at this time that I drank my first Loire Chenin. I was lucky because in Australia in the mid-1980s it was still rare to find it. It was a real eye-opener that I have never forgotten, a blend of freshness and exuberance. I would compare all the white wines I subsequently drank to this particular wine. I was not able to go visit the vineyards of the Loire until 2017, but it was wonderful.

SHAYNNA BLAZE

It’s true. I was born in Melbourne and I have always lived in the State of Victoria. In my 20s, I was 30 minutes away from the Yarra Valley, renowned for its Chardonnay and Pinot noir-based sparkling wines, like Chandon, Australia’s best traditional method sparkling wine. I would often go and do tastings at weekends, and I’d also go to Macedon Ranges, less than an hour North-West of Melbourne which is famous for its mineral water springs and red wines that enjoy a really cool climate. Southern Australia is really magnificent – there are some fantastic hotels and very good restaurants there for drinking wine. 

SHAYNNA BLAZE

With my friends, work colleagues and kids. My son Jess has started collecting wine – he has a great palate. My daughter Carly Anne has worked in restaurants and could probably have become a sommelier. We like going to places together where the owners really know about wine, like the restaurants belonging to my friend Matt Moran (Ed. a chef who is very often featured on Australian television). We enjoy some share plate meals and let ourselves get carried away with the pairing suggestions. This is also true of one of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne, Hazel, which has an incredible wine list.

SHAYNNA BLAZE

I have two! (laughs), one large, one small. The largest one is in my garage which is also a space that has been designed for welcoming friends and having fun. We take the cars out, open the door and, in a lovely wooden setting, I host tastings, I am looking forward to doing them with local sommeliers and wine makers.

SHAYNNA BLAZE

Mainly local wines, especially red wines from the Beechworth area, another wine region in Victoria State. These are Shiraz (Syrah), Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and my favourite, Pinot noir, wines. There are wine bars where you can sit down for a bite to eat, discover wines and take them home. I don’t have any French wine, though, because…… it’s all been drunk! (laughs)

SHAYNNA BLAZE

I regularly work with Harris Scarfe, a retailer selling household goods founded in 1849. I have designed bed linen and tableware for them, including a series of stemless and stemmed wine glasses, “Lorne” and “Criss Cross”, the later comes in two in two colours. I wanted glasses that were accessible to everyone’s style.

SHAYNNA BLAZE

It’s true! I posted a survey on Instagram to ask people if they preferred stemware or stem-free glassware. It unleashed lots of passionate reactions, with a lot of articles in the newspapers, it was completely crazy! I realised that it was very generational through my own daughter, who voted for glasses with no stems, whereas I only like stemware. The world was divided into two, the under and over 35s! (laughs)

SHAYNNA BLAZE

I prefer white wines because I like to drink nicely chilled wine. I also recently discovered orange wines and loved them. I also like Champagnes when they have low sugar content, like Bollinger. I struggle a little with natural wines because they are not very widespread in Australia and in my opinion, they are not very good, with that quite distinctive barnyard smell.

SHAYNNA BLAZE

A Loire Chenin blanc as a reminder of my first aesthetic wine shock. A rosé by Château Miraval (Ed. acquired in 2008 by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, now at the centre of a legal battle since the couple’s divorce) and the Alta label, a Pinot noir from the Victoria region.

SHAYNNA BLAZE

At dusk, with friends around a large table for a dinner party. With friendship and laughter as we watch the sun go down. You can also enjoy sharing wine intimately, with one other person, when you prepare a meal, turn the music up loud and dance in the kitchen with a glass in hand.