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Eliza Brown
ALL SAINTS ESTATE & ST LEONARDS VINEYARDEliza Brown - CEOGiven Eliza Brown now sits comfortably as matriarch of her father's company - and was finalist in the 2007 Telstra Business Women's Awards, as well as named one of the Future Leaders of the Australian Wine Industry - you'd assume she was groomed for the position. 'My family talked about food and wine as far back as I can remember,' says Eliza in recalling memories of building cubbies and skipping through the vines of Brown Brothers' revered vineyard in Milawa. 'But I wanted to become a photographer... until I realised I was no good at it,' she humbly adds. Thanks to the persistence of her father, Peter, talking up the North Eastern weather - 'more sunny days each year than Surfer's Paradise,' she states as fact - Eliza was coaxed back from the city. She commenced at All Saints Estate - the grandiose Rutherglen winery situated in a Scottish castle that Peter had purchased independently of the family business. However, Eliza's initiation into company CEO was an unexpected one, literally taking place over night when she was three months pregnant and looking forward to a break with her baby daughter. 'Dad was killed in a road accident on a Sunday,' she admits, 'Then, on the Monday, I became CEO of the company.'Negotiating the ins and outs of her father's business was not easy, but - with help from her sister, Angela, and brother, Nick - Eliza struggled out from behind the eight ball and upheld her father's formidable legacy through both All Saints and St Leonards wineries. It also helped that his promotion of the region lived up to the hype. 'It's a little Europe up here,' she states. 'I'm constantly surprised by the diversity and the people I get to meet. There are some real personalities.' When asked about juggling life, motherhood and business, Eliza doesn't believe in magic formulas. 'You know what girls are like,' she says. 'We just do everything.' All Saints Estate All Saints Road
St Leonards Vineyard St Leonards Road,
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