Who is Pacific Wines?

My name is Craig Penlington, a sixth generation Australian living in Switzerland since the 90's.

I have been directly involved in the food & wine industry since my childhood as my family owned a restaurant in the Snowy Mountain in Victoria.

I am a passionate Chef, and together with my wife, we are currently running a prestigious restaurant in an eighteen century manor in Neuchâtel "The Hotel DuPeyrou".

First and for most, as an Australian, I felt impelt as any citizen proud of their country of origin to display a small selection of wines from home. Obviously favouring local wines first, with a little chef selection from down under.

I return to Australia on a regular basis and I follow the winemakers and the future harvest and of course to discover some new tasteful wine.

It takes a lot of wine tasting and meeting new winemakers to bring you the wine I have selected. I can therefore guarantee you the best quality and wine I particularly enjoy and want you to discover.

Those trips also enables me to find small family vineyard dedicated to make quality rather than quantity for the enjoyment of my customers.

Why import wine from Australia?

One question that comes up every now and then, is: "Why bringing wine from the other side of the word?"

Australia imports annually 2890 millions of swiss francs of products from Switzerland. So containers ships leave Europe full of merchandise for the Australian market. From an ecological point of view, it is more efficient for these ships to return full rather than empty.

Australia is also host to one of the largest Swiss overseas community with over 24'000 swiss citizens living in Australia.

Australia has started to produce wine in 1820 and many swiss and European winemakers have immigrated to Australia and largely contributed to this part of our history.

Therefore I believe that the exchange of wine and food between our two countries is an important part of the culture heritage and future of the food and wine industry.