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It’s been a static year for the fine wine secondary market, says the CEO of LiveTrade, Matthew O’Connell. But one little ray of light has been the performance of boutique, or “grower”, champagnes. “Ulysse Collin, Cédric Bouchard, Selosse and Egly-Ouriet are all up 10-20 per cent. This is in contrast to grandes marques such as Krug and Dom Pérignon, which have all been down eight-nine per cent, roughly in line with the broader market,” he says. I felt such deep shame that I was being labelled a perpetrator when I'm so committed to looking after people who are vulnerable," she said. "I thought that if you tell the truth, and you have evidence, you'll get a just response. And I learned the hard way that is not the case." A simmering crisis Fans of the new “quiet luxury” prefer micro-producer Jérôme Prevost, she says, or Vouette et Sorbée, a biodynamic winemaker in the increasingly fashionable Aube (some of its growers will be pouring their wines at The Whisky Exchange’s Champagne Show in London on 24 November). My ex appears as a calm white man and I would have appeared as a highly distressed coloured woman," she said. "And whether we like it or not, we live in a society where we assign more credibility to white men than we do to coloured women. I can't ever know for sure but I suspect that played a part in who was believed that night."
Misidentification can have even more serious ramifications for migrants whose abusive partner is their visa sponsor. When such a relationship ends, an applicant would not be granted a partner visa unless they can prove they've experienced family violence, Ms Ketelaar-Jones said — usually a stressful, years-long process requiring a high standard of evidence. Before we get too misty-eyed about the little guys, it’s important to note that not all producers who are “grower” in spirit, are tiny. Louis Roederer, for example, owns all the (organic and biodynamic) vineyards that go into its vintage and Cristal cuvées, and has an enquiring approach that’s arguably more grower in spirit than many smaller houses. They are a punishment particularly for many migrant women. Taya Ketelaar-Jones, a senior lawyer at the Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service, which runs the Family Violence Migration Service for victim-survivors on temporary visas, said a review of her case files suggests 99 per cent of clients named as respondents on PFVOs have been misidentified.
The officer also omitted what she felt were crucial details and context of the incident and selectively wrote down parts of her story that were "disadvantageous" to her. "I felt like I was having to actively fight to get my story heard," she said. "It wasn't an empowering process."
For Bianca, the dominoes began falling during her first visit to Hobart Police Station. The constable who took her statement didn't ask about her partner's history of emotional abuse or suggest a medical examination, she said, despite her telling them he'd injured her head and ear. New York, always thirsty for the next big thing, has been an early adopter of niche cuvées. At the city’s annual champagne gala, La Fête du Champagne, grower champagnes go head-to-head with Krug, Bollinger and Ruinart. Founder-sommelier Daniel Johnnes says there’s been such an influx of new names it can be “hard to keep up with this extremely dynamic sector”. But he singles out Bérêche et Fils, Chartogne-Taillet, Pierre Peters, Vilmart & Cie, Famille Moussé and brother-and-sister team Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant as particularly worthy of praise. Champagne’s share of the secondary market has steadily increased over the past 10 years. Today, it stands at more than 13 per cent, making it the third most-traded wine category after bordeaux and burgundy, according to Liv-ex. It’s a realm still dominated by the big names: Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Pol Roger Winston Churchill, Cristal, Krug, Bollinger La Grande Année and Dom Pérignon are among the most-traded cuvées. But small, grower-style houses are increasingly punching above their weight.
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But she's also concerned her Asian ethnicity was a factor, especially after viewing footage of the police interview with her partner. In it, she said the constable jokes with him and apologises for having to ask "annoying" questions — a starkly different tone to what she'd expect of an impartial officer investigating a family violence matter. But that training, it seems, isn't always being put into practice. Like other frontline workers, Ms Cehtel believes the PFVO process should be examined as part of a broader review of Tasmania's Family Violence Act to shed light on what's working and what isn't. One of the biggest hurdles came in the form of six statements from officers at Hobart Police Station. Each outlined their connection to Bianca's matter and essentially supported the decision to list her as the respondent on a PFVO. But lawyers say it's a problem because it overlooks the fact that for most misidentified victims, nothing has changed — rather, the PFVO should not have been issued in the first place. Thanks to court and police delays it took seven months for Bianca's matter to be heard. "I found the process highly traumatic and unnecessarily difficult," she said. "My life was basically on hold … and there were many times where I thought I'd give up, that it wasn't worth it. Thankfully, I had people around me supporting me and telling me to keep fighting … but I lost faith in getting any kind of positive institutional response. I thought, 'This is a system that is failing victims badly'." A 'David and Goliath' battle
Timely judicial review is absolutely essential for cases of misidentification," said Anna*, who was misidentified by Tasmania Police in 2021. "But at the moment, PFVOs are a sentence without a hearing. When the police respond to family violence, they should be there to protect, not to punish. But PFVOs, which last for 12 months and often have a huge impact on people's lives — especially when police make the wrong decision — are a punishment." A punishment for migrant women All of this generally takes a "huge toll" on clients' mental health, she said. The stress and uncertainty of migration legal issues aside, women on temporary visas may not have access to critical health and social services, employment or other support they might otherwise have. They are small and family-owned, with traditions passed down over the years and a new, young generation committed to improvements of their family wine, the region overall – and the planet.” Though the spokesperson did not respond to questions about why progress had stalled, they said the working group had produced "key actions" — including that Tasmania Police will continue to develop and improve training "to further support incident responses", and the establishment of a Victim Survivor Advisory which will allow the government and agencies to hear from victims about "what is and isn't working". And when that is taken out of the context of the pattern of abuse in the relationship it can constitute an offence," Ms Cehtel said. "So police, if they don't consider the coercive control that sits around the actual incident … may see her as the perpetrator."Some victim-survivors agree the change in circumstances clause — which appears on the court's PFVO revocation application form — is deterring misidentified women from pursuing justice. Anna said she was told by a police officer she had "a snowflake's chance in hell" of getting the PFVO against her revoked. Just a few hours earlier she'd gone to Hobart Police Station to report that he'd assaulted her after she'd broken up with him. She followed him home across the road from a cafe they'd met at, she told officers, saying she wanted to "end things with love and kindness"; he regularly stormed off during their relationship and punished her with "silent treatment" for days, and now she wanted closure on her terms. The diversity of styles offered by grower champagnes is also part of their appeal, says Peter Crawford, founder of grower specialist Sip Champagnes. “They’re innovating in so many ways – reviving field blends [cuvées made from different varieties grown in the same vineyard] and championing neglected grape varieties including Pinot Gris and Arbanne; ageing in Jura wine casks and amphorae and bottling with zero dosage [no added sugar] to create flavour profiles that really push the boundaries.” In hindsight, she thinks the police concluded she was the aggressor for a couple of reasons. One, because they took an "incident-based" approach and seemed to focus on her admission that she'd followed her partner home and slapped him after he shoved her — without taking into account his alleged history of coercive control, the fact he was bigger and stronger, or her claim that he assaulted her, injuring her head and ripping the buttons off her coat. It may be because it's an easier option for police," Ms Ketelaar-Jones said. Officers frequently take out PFVOs against both parties, often in cases when the couple isn't fluent in English and investigating further to determine who is most in need of protection isn't necessarily straightforward.
We know the impact misidentification in family violence situations can have on victim-survivors," the spokesperson said. "To reduce the risk of misidentification, all PFVOs are … subject to several safeguards. The Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management conduct a thorough investigation of each incident, allow only sergeants to issue PFVOs, and have weekly Safe at Home Integrated Case Coordination (ICC) meetings to review every matter reported to police."Later, when I investigated the possibility of applying to the court for revocation, I saw that condition and it just seemed like another barrier," she said — so she didn't proceed with an application. "Even though my ex and I had separated, I interpreted it to mean, 'How was I less of a danger to him?' And I knew, and my ex knew, that I'd never been a danger to him." The hearing
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