Hayley Purbrick accepting her Melbourne Food and Wine Legends award.
As a busy wife and mum of three, you would think that Hayley Purbrick had enough to keep her busy.
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But on top of those titles, she also adds champion of sustainability.
And that has now seen her awarded and promoted to legend status.
With five generations of winemaking in the family, Ms Purbrick is the environmental manager of Nagambie region winery Tahbilk.
She bases herself out of the Deniliquin Coworking Space she founded, and from the farm at Conargo.
Her implementation of tree planting and environmentally-minded strategies have worked wonders within the winery’s ecosystem.
On August 29, Ms Purbrick was presented with the Melbourne Food and Wine Legends Award.
The ceremony was hosted at the ACMI museum of screen culture, in the heart of Melbourne’s Federation Square.
The award honours outstanding contributions to Melbourne’s hospitality scene.
Ms Purbrick was also inducted into the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Hall of Fame as the second ever Sustainability Champion.
Launched in 1993, the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Legends Hall of Fame pays tribute to the leaders, groundbreakers and visionaries of Victoria’s food, drink and hospitality industry.
More than 150 legends have been inducted since the program began.
When inducted, Ms Purbrick recalls thinking “I’m under 40 and a legend ... I’ve made it”.
Legend emeritus Jill Dupleix fondly spoke of Hayley’s contributions during the ceremony.
“Hayley has not just transformed her own family’s winery in her efforts to reduce Co² emissions by 45 per cent and become carbon neutral, but she has also laid out the blueprints for the entire winemaking industry”.
“We have been carbon auditing for the last 15 years and are now naturally sustainable,” Ms Purbeick said in response.
“Native vegetation offsets 100 per cent of production, from growing, manufacturing and servicing end to end”.
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