Little Frances: Nominee for Best Supporting Role
HER NAME
ERIN
MAKES SIPS AT
LITTLE FRANCES
Erin’s wines exist to be a part of someone’s moment. She’s given us a new perspective on what types of moments call for a wine - or rather, what moments happen after you have a wine. Hint: It’s pretty close to magic.
Spending time abroad in California, she had a clear idea of what she wanted to drink and more importantly - what she wanted to create. After bundles of self-doubt around starting her own business, she dove straight into the deep end and brought us a little piece of herself with each sip of Little Frances.
The planned “quick 30 minute chat” with Erin turned into an hour-long conversation. We clearly couldn’t get enough of Erin and her attitude towards wine. She’s full of wisdom and I think we actually gained brain cells by talking to her (thank you, Erin).
If we had to summarise what we learned about her and Little Frances wines - is that she doesn’t want her wines to steal the show, but they’re there to simply support. “I want my wines to augment what’s already there. Which is a good time with people you love.” Damn. How’s that feature line for the Best Supporting Role award? She def has our vote.
“I want my wines to augment what’s already there. Which is a good time with people you love. I don’t want my wines to steal the show - they’re just there to support. I want the bottles to be emptied really fast so people are like, ‘woah, where did that go?! That was delicious!’”
SIP’ER: How did you start?
ERIN: I started in 2012. I just graduated with a degree and I moved to California after the GFC, so there weren’t many wine jobs. I was working in hospitality at the time and I always had a clear picture in my head of what wine I wanted to drink and make. I was finding that I couldn’t really find that there - I found mostly everything in California wasn’t everyday drinking.
As I got to know people, I noticed there people starting their own businesses, but they were all guys. I was working in wineries, and I thought, am I not able to do it? I was so naive, I was 20-nothing. It was a question to myself, “Can I do this? Am I able? Is the reason there aren’t any females doing it because they can’t do it? Or is it the only thing between me and money to buy grapes?”
SIP’ER: And what was it in the end?!
ERIN: ...And I found out, it was just money. So, I just bought grapes! And the rest is history. It’s just like, take this one massive leap off a cliff and go, “can I do it?!”
SIP’ER: Gotta dive right into the deep end.
ERIN: And that’s been the whole business. It’s been like, “I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I can run a business. I don’t know if I can bottle stuff. I don’t know if I can get a license.” Even right now, I’m thinking, can I bring a container of my wines back to Australia and launch Little Frances and grow it here? And I’m finding out that I can! I think you just start with this question, and then you go from there. It’s the same with wine, it’s just this when you’re fermenting. You take the grapes and you’re challenged to what you think it could be - or a vision, and letting it become something. But it always starts with curiosity.
SIP’ER: Yep. You’ll never know until you try.
ERIN: Exactly. Next year is going to be 10 years for me. And I’m still here. So...shit!
SIP’ER: What’s been your career highlight?
ERIN: Honestly, the highlight for me is when somebody emails me or messages me a picture with my wine. Especially when it’s a wine from a couple of years ago, and they’re a friend that lives far away. Those are really affirming moments, when you’re a part of someone’s moment, whether it’s a special dinner or even just a Tuesday night and you’re not even there. Those moments are what I do business for.
SIP’ER: So when you feel happy in these moments, what wine would you feel like drinking in this moment?
ERIN: Sometimes I like to open the same wine and share the experience. I don’t really think I have an experience, and then open a wine. I think you open a wine and have an experience. What I’m choosing to open is a shared experience. That’s what I love about a bottle; opening a bottle and pouring it for your friends at the table, or even people you don’t know - just people who you’re sharing it with - it’s like an act of connection. A gesture of sharing. Also clinking your glasses and having that moment. That’s special.
SIP’ER: What’s the toughest part of your job that not a lot of people would know about?
ERIN: Cold calling people for sales is hard. I’m not a natural salesperson. Door-knocking and putting yourself on the line with wines that you’ve made, that are super personal - is daunting. It can be affirming when people love them, and most people do. But at the same time, as an introvert, that’s quite depleting.
SIP’ER: Totally. Your wines are a part of you. And what do you feel like drinking after a full day of cold calling for sales?
ERIN: A refreshing beer is usually the best thing after a long day of sales.
SIP’ER: Any specific beer?
ERIN: It depends on the city I’m in, it’s nice to drink what’s local. So if you’re in Adelaide you drink Coopers Green, if you’re in Sydney, you might drink Young Henry’s.
SIP’ER: What’s your favourite wine that you produce? Why is it your favourite?
ERIN: My Semillon. To me, it’s a miracle wine. When you bottle it, it’s just a bit nondescript. A lot of the time a wine’s flavour is carried through alcohol. But my Semillon doesn’t have a lot of alcohol, it’s like 10%. The bottle is a lean, flavourless white wine that’s not a head turner to begin with. But then you leave it in the bottle for a couple of years. It’s something about semillon - I don’t know what it is but it’s magic - but it goes through this transformation. Like going through puberty. It’s voice drops. Then you have all of this beautiful fruit flavour, like ripe lemon and lemon curd, and hay and texture. There’s just so much going on, and yet there’s no alcohol or sugar. So it just expands in your palette in this magnificent way. It’s an insider’s wine because it isn’t bold, it doesn’t slap you in the face. It just sits in your body and it feels really good. It’s got so much body and texture and you don’t get drunk drinking a bottle of it!
SIP’ER: What sets Little Frances wines apart from others?
ERIN: I mean, I made it myself. I think what sets everybody’s products or wines apart is that I have my own vision, I have my own palette, flavour and convictions. I’m not following someone else’s recipe, I’m following my own palette. That’s been honed in over decades of tasting wines, travelling, eating food and life experiences. I want the wines to have their own personality. It’s super personal.
SIP’ER: What do you want people to take away from the experience after drinking Little Frances?
ERIN: Well, I should be saying, “Little Frances is the best in the world!” But actually, I just want people to think “oh, that was a great dinner. And Little Frances just happened to be a component of it.” I want my wines to augment what’s already there. Which is a good time with people you love. I don’t want my wines to steal the show - they’re just there to support. I want the bottles to be emptied really fast so people are like, “woah, where did that go?! That was delicious!”
SIP’ER: It’s just as simple as that.
ERIN: Yeah, I just want people to put it in their bodies and have a good time.
SIP’ER: So what is the best way to drink Little Frances?
ERIN: Anywhere where there’s a corkscrew. [laughs] Or with people. The most important wine of the day is the one you pour for yourself while you’re cooking - cutting up veggies or sautee-ing the onions. Maybe you need some wine for the cooking - or maybe you don’t - you just need it for yourself while you’re cooking. It’s just self-care. And then you sit down with other people at the table and enjoy it together.
SIP’ER: If you had to match one of your wines with your personality, what would it be and why?
ERIN: Ooooh that’s hard. I find it hard to identify with a wine - they’re all a part of me already. There’s so much of me in all of my wines. They become relationships; they all have their strong personalities. I’m a part of them - all of them - but I’m not one of them.