![INDUSTRY PRAISE: Chris Pfeiffer is a finalist in the Australian Women in Wine's workplace champion of change award, which promote women in the wine industry. Picture: ELENOR TEDENBORG INDUSTRY PRAISE: Chris Pfeiffer is a finalist in the Australian Women in Wine's workplace champion of change award, which promote women in the wine industry. Picture: ELENOR TEDENBORG](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Fn6pLqa34xKvXz2W5RXLbX/52508a0d-c2a2-4cf5-b828-a30019cdcf0b.jpg/r1520_369_5029_3342_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
North East Victoria’s contribution to women in the Australian wine industry will come under the national spotlight this month.
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Porpunkah’s Dino Michelini, from Michelini Wines, and Chris Pfeiffer, from Pfeiffer Wines, were both finalists in the inaugural Australian Women in Wine’s workplace champion of change award.
The winner will be announced at a series of dinners around Australia, all linked via video streaming, on Tuesday, November 17.
“I was very surprised,” Mr Michelini said.
“I thought there were a lot of good people out there doing some great things”
The final nominee was Laurance Wines founder Dianne Laurance from Margaret River.
“It’s a really national competition, across all the categories we have finalists from every every part of Australia except the Northern Territory,” advisory committee representative Jenny Houghton, of Maygars Hill Vineyard, said.
![Dino Michelini, of Myrtleford's Michelini Wines, has been named a finalist in the Australian Women in Wine's champion of workplace change award. Dino Michelini, of Myrtleford's Michelini Wines, has been named a finalist in the Australian Women in Wine's champion of workplace change award.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Fn6pLqa34xKvXz2W5RXLbX/317b6b8c-33ca-4269-b852-e3e9eb946bec.jpg/r88_490_2342_1587_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Maygars Hill will host one of the inaugural Australian Women in Wine Award dinners on November 17.
“I think I got the nomination for my work in wine shows and the advancement of women as wine judges,” Mr Pfeiffer said.
Under Mr Pfeiffer’s guidance, the Rutherglen Wine Show was the first in Australia to have an all-woman judging panel.
With women big consumers of wine, Mr Pfeiffer believed it made sense to have their input in the entire wine making production chain.
Technology advancements removed barriers, such as heavy lifting, from the winemaking process which made the career appealing for women.
“We are lucky in our industry that there are no barriers to jobs due to gender,” he said.
“Certainly at Pfeiffer Wines, gender has not been a barrier to employment.”
Three of the four departments within Pfeiffer Wines were headed by women.
Mr Pfeiffer established Pfeiffer Wines with his wife Robyn on the banks of Wahgunyah’s Sunday Creek in the mid-1980s.
He shares winemaking duties with daughter Jen, a former Wine Society Young Winemaker of the year.
Mr Michelini, who also runs beef cattle in the Buckland Valley, was viticulturist with his family’s “traditional Italian winery”.
His brother Ilario, wife Marlinda, daughter Jade and son Kane are all involved in the winery while sister Loretta was a sales representative based in Melbourne.
“I think it’s natural to have good women involved in the business,” Mr Michelini said.
“The first winemaker we had was a woman, from New Zealand, and she did a fantastic job.”