Hardys Wines to introduce new “oomoo” wines in the U.S.
Due to the overwhelming success of these wines in Australia and the United Kingdom, it is only now that there is sufficient wine to release Hardys Oomoo nationally in the United States.
22/09/05 This month, Hardys Wines will release two new "oomoo" wines for national distribution in the United States. Hardys revived this historic label to celebrate the company's 150th anniversary in 2003. Due to the overwhelming success of these wines in Australia and the United Kingdom, it is only now that there is sufficient wine to release Hardys Oomoo nationally in the United States: a 2003 McLaren Vale Shiraz and a 2005 McLaren Vale Unwooded Chardonnay.
Oomoo is an Aboriginal word meaning "good," "nice," or "pleasant to the eye." Australian winemaking pioneer Thomas Hardy liked this word of the Dieyerie Tribe of Central Australia so much that he gave it to some of his first wines. Oomoo was a stalwart label in the Hardys range from the early 1860s right up until the 1930s. Then it was all but forgotten until 1976, when a Melbourne antique dealer discovered a mid-1870s Oomoo advertising lithograph hidden behind a framed map. The print bears the signature of Thomas Hardy and the name Bankside Vineyards, his first winery venture in 1853, located on South Australia's River Torrens. The 19th century lithograph was presented to the Hardy family and now hangs in the company boardroom.
McLaren Vale, the region from where fruit for both Oomoo wines is sourced, lies between the Gulf St Vincent and the Mount Lofty ranges and is the heart of the picturesque Southern Vales wine region. Hardys McLaren Vale vineyards have earned a long-standing reputation for richly flavored Shiraz and Grenache, as well as fresh white wines made from Chardonnay, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Shiraz is the flagship varietal of the region known for its rich chocolate, coffee and spice flavor characteristics. The soil types vary with the terrain, but include sandy loam and ironstone soils, which along with the region's Mediterranean climate play an important role in producing high quality fruit for the production of intensely flavored wines.
All Hardys Oomoo wines include Collotype's Wine Find (TM), a back label tear tab that consumers can use to help find the bottle again.
Oomoo, and all Hardys wines, are imported to the United States by Pacific Wine Partners, a Constellation Wines U.S. company and a leading producer of premium California wines and importer of wines from Australia and New Zealand. Constellation Wines U.S. is part of Constellation Wines, the world's largest wine business, an operating division of Constellation Brands, Inc. Constellation Wines U.S. encompasses three of CBI's U.S. wine businesses: Canandaigua Wine Company, Pacific Wine Partners, and North Lake Wines. Pacific Wine Partners produces several top California brands including Blackstone, Black Box, and Hayman and Hill and is the U.S. importer for Banrock Station, Hardys, Leasingham, Barossa Valley Estate, Yarra Burn, Starvedog Lane, Brookland Valley, and Chateau Reynella from Australia and Nobilo from New Zealand.
