Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Congratulations to Brad and Jodee Adams on their company, Rare Foods Australia. Not only is it producing the only ocean-grown green-lip abalone in the world where two oceans, the Indian and Southern oceans, meet around Cape Leeuwin, off Augusta in my electorate of Forrest; in another world first, they're also producing Southern Hemisphere subsea wine, the first in our open ocean waters, over a kilometre off the coast.

Following a three-year successful trial period,    Brad Adams, who has always pursued innovation and opportunity at Rare Foods, is now investing in Australia's first subsea wine production through ocean cellaring. Brad and his team are both fermenting and maturing wine in the ocean, using 22 subsea vats tethered to the ocean floor with specialised sea anchors that don't disturb the sea grass at around 20 meters in depth in the Rare Foods ocean lease zone. Each vat contains around 300 litres of wine maintained in suspension. At this depth, the fermentation takes on a different aroma and flavour than wine produced using traditional land based methods. It takes around nine to 12 months but tasting starts at around six months. I'm sure there are plenty of volunteers for that! It's the ocean current that naturally provides the refrigeration and movement, the gentle sway providing the constant movement needed in winemaking. It is in low light and in a consistent temperature and pressure environment under the ocean.

Following the company's subsea wine trials, Rare Foods is now partnering with the French company Winereef International. Brad brought to this arrangement the boats, the experience, the divers and the infrastructure, and he has a very dynamic 'have a go' approach as well as very sharp business and commercial acumen.

Rare Foods has another ace up its sleeve, with access to the world-renowned premium Margaret River wines, and they will be branded as Ocean Signature. This is a match made in heaven and a totally new offering for the market and for the region. Brad has told me that Rare Foods will produce a limited vintage pure ocean wine, which will be their 100 per cent product. But there will also be a 50 per cent blend with traditional land produced wine as well—chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and a sparkling wine. They will all be marketed in unique bottles with remnants of natural coral, similar to the wine bottles found in historic shipwrecks. Some of those shipwrecks have been found many years, sometimes hundreds of years, later, but the bottles have been found intact and well aged.

This is an exciting concept and a new experience for those who live in, or visit, our south-west. It is another innovative product from Brad, Jodee and the Rare Foods Australia team. Rare Foods started off as ocean-grown abalone, and this was a groundbreaking initiate in our south-west. I saw the early reefs that Brad and his team constructed. They were then placed into the ocean lease area that Rare Foods have, and that was their ocean-grown abalone—beautiful baby abalone. Having tasted many of these at different occasions I can really recommend their ocean-grown abalone. To think that we will now see ocean produced wine—this is a world first. It's something that the region is very proud of.

Brad has always been an innovator. He loves the ocean. He's a fisherman, a surfer, a diver. Recently, I met his son, and his son is very much in the same space. I'm looking forward to what Rare Foods will do next. I think this is the next of many more adventures and innovation for Rare Foods. To everyone who sees this particular wine on the shelves, why not try it and experience wine that's been fermented in the two oceans off Augusta by Rare Foods.