Michelle Geber
Family Ambassador, Chateau Tanunda
As a roving ambassador for Château Tanunda, her family's winery in Australia's Barossa Valley, Michelle Geber (pronounced "GUEE-ber") is very much a Barossa Valley ambassador as well. "All ships fall and rise with the same tide," says Geber. That sense of community is part of the Château Tanunda and Geber family DNA.
Geber was 14 when her parents, John and Evelyne Geber, bought the historic Barossa property in 1998. It's a source of considerable pride to Geber that a decade later this magnificently restored Château has been revitalized and is once again a focal point of the community. Numerous growers now store and sell their wines at the Château, which includes a shop showcasing small producer wines from the area, and a museum recording the Barossa's winemaking history, furnished largely with objects and photos provided by Barossa old-timers. Each month Château Tanunda hosts a popular "Long Room Lunch," providing a welcome forum for the local wine community to gather for a tasting of each other's wines and to voice any local concerns.
This sense of community is also reflected in Château Tanunda's wines, produced in part from fruit sourced from selected local growers. Today, many of the descendants of those original pioneering Barossa growers, who first supplied grapes to the winery in 1890, make their best fruit available to the Château, under long-term contracts. "Put it down to sentiment, perhaps, but we have access to fruit other people don't," Michelle Geber observes.
Though Geber is the second generation of her family to enter the wine business (in addition to owning Cowra Estate and Château Tanunda, John Geber was instrumental in the enormously successful introduction of several best-selling Australian wine labels in Europe), what Geber has really learned from her father is marketing. Her father is an expert, popularizing round tea bags and sugar-free gum - and Geber has discovered she has the family marketing gene too.
Geber started, though, studying history and political science, followed by an internship with Oxfam, researching new business development through use of information communication technology. A love of the visual arts - she is a keen photographer - led to a diploma in computer graphics, which she has put to use working on Château Tanunda's marketing materials and website. Now, she is studying towards a master's degree in economics and international business. Along the way, during a promotional tour in China, she moved out from the behind the desk to the podium, speaking to audiences about her family's Australian Château. Traveling to eight Chinese cities in 16 days was good practice for her new role as Château Tanunda's ambassador in the U.S.
Living in different cultures is hardly new for Geber. Her mother is Swiss and her father grew up in South Africa. Prior to coming to the U.S., Geber worked in Samoa through an Australian government-sponsored initiative, honing her skills in marketing, communications and IT. Stateside since October 2009, Geber, despite her youth, is undaunted about her new role. From her entrepreneurial father she has learned to "think big and be positive." It also helps being highly energetic -- she is a competitive athlete playing volleyball, softball and soccer.
Asked what else she would like people to know about her family's property, she points to Château Tanunda's wine style: "A European sensibility, thanks to my mother's side, combined with Barossa fruit." Since the fruit comes from throughout the Barossa, the Château's wines truly reflect the breadth of the region. After just a decade in Geber family hands, historic Château Tanunda is once again "the heart of the Barossa" - and Michelle Geber would like to introduce you to her home and its wines.
