By JO HARRISON
TOP Australian superfine wool growing properties in New England hosted 120 journalists last week, introducing them to the complexities of growing the world’s finest wool.
The farm tours were part of a two-day celebration to honour the 50th anniversary of the Ermenegildo Zegna Wool Awards, Ermenegildo Zegna in partnership with The Woolmark Company.
Groups were shown through the wool growing process starting from the history of wool, through to shearing and the important stage of wool classing, helping to tell the story behind producing superfine Merino fleeces that qualify to enter the Zegna Wool Awards.
Superfine woolgrowers Leo and Judy Blanch from ‘Westvale’ at Wollun were thrilled to show the world’s media just how good wool from New England really is.
“To start with we went through the history of Westvale and they got to see us mustering the sheep into the yards with dogs and bikes, which they really enjoyed,” Leo Blanch said.
“We then inspected the sheep we were going to shear and Scott, our overseer explained how we use sheep genetics and the computer programs to help us with our breeding.”
Westvale was especially honoured to host Count Paolo Zegna, chairman and CEO of Ermenegildo Zegna and his partner Julie.
“We had put a lot of work into the visit and it really paid off for us,” Leo said.
“To have such a high-profile fashion house like Ermenegildo Zegna and a host of international media come to visit was a real highlight.
“Many of the visitors had no idea what wool looked like before it got into their garments so it was a real eye-opener for them. This was Ermenegildo Zegna’s main objective of the visit – to educate the media. They would then go back to their countries and write about and publish what they experienced.
“We are hoping that this might lift the profile of superfine wool and give us all a little better returns in the future.”
Properties visited also included Europambela and Cairnie (Walcha), Kentucky Station (Kentucky), Wilson’s Creek and Deeargee (Uralla) and Warrrane (Armidale).
The celebrations culminated in a gala, multi-sensorial event held at the historic Royal Hall of Industries in Sydney’s Moore Park. Journalists and media representatives from 31 countries travelled to Australia to gain an understanding and appreciation for fine Australian Merino wool.
