Winemaker
Michael Sawyer decided to complement his passion for wine by completing his first vintage in 1998 in the Riverland, as a Lab technician and Cellarhand for Deakin Estate Wines.
Embracing the industry, Michael headed overseas for a number of vintages in the U.S.A. Working in the regions within Washington State; Willamette Valley and Walla Walla.
Michael worked with exciting and innovative people within the wine industry and gained valuable experience in cellar door sales, marketing, vineyard and cellar, as well as understanding the processes involved in producing wine for the U.S market.
In 2000, Michael returned to his home state of South Australia, to embark on finding out why Mclaren Vale Shiraz was renowned for being some of the best Shiraz in the world.
Spending the next five years working with exceptional winemaking teams in three wineries; Tatachilla, Wirra Wirra and Rosemount, has helped him develop an understanding of how to produce such a Shiraz.
In 2003 and 2004, Michael ventured to the Rhone valley in southern France, to take part as a Flying Winemaker for the European vintages. Being just 40 minutes south of Chateauneuf du Pape, in the Cote du Luberon, Michael produced wines of different quality from Apellation Controllee to Vin de Table, with varieties such as Syrah, Grenache, Mouvedre and Sauvignon Blanc.
Michael's experience of the Old World and New World winemaking techniques have lead him to always strive for perfection in every wine he produces.
Michael believes strongly in blending wines from different soils and climates as each contributes its own character to the blend. Michael quietly through his intuition and training goes about improving wines each vintage from the vineyard through to the bottle.
Michael's natural talents and abilities have been enhanced by his education at Charles Sturt University, which has helped enable him to create fresh and vibrant wine styles for Amphora Wines since May, 2005.
Michael's continuous strive for perfection led him to Amphora Wines which gave him the ability to carve his presence in the Australian wine industry.
He has enabled Amphora Wines to grow over the past two years and to expand exports to 15 countries with sales in Asia/China topping 40,000 + cases in 2006/07.
With the development of new brands for different countries Michael has started to show his mettle, winning a number of silver and bronze medals at the International Wine Challenge in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
"I look at each wine as having the ability to tell a story that builds across the palate, with a captivating finish and hope that each reader (drinker) enjoys the tale and wants to come back for more", says Michael.
