Awards Keep Flowing for Watervale Hotel

By Lucy Brewer

It was a fortuitous moment that saw Nicola Palmer and Warrick Duthy take over the historic Watervale Hotel in the Clare Valley. The two had recently purchased a home and farm (Penobscot) in Watervale, and were checking out their new local—the Watervale Hotel.

Both were entrenched in the hospitality and liquor industries for much of their careers. Nicola’s parents own Skillogalee Winery Restaurant, where she worked as the head chef and restaurant manager. Warrick remains a director of Kilikanoon Wines and chairs the Clare Valley Alliance, the peak body for Clare Valley tourism.

Upon the couple’s visit to the Watervale Hotel, the publican proclaimed they should purchase it. She named a price, and Warrick and Nicola accepted.

“We actually weren’t terribly interested in having a pub,” said Warrick.

“What we were really interested in was creating a tourism destination that would bring more people to the Clare Valley, and really promote the concept of organic and biodynamic farm food, and epicurean excellence.”

So began a journey, now in its fourth year, that has saw the Watervale undergo a gorgeous refurbishment, complete with an impressive beer garden and nods to the hotel’s history.

AWARDS

Warrick and Nicola’s work with the Watervale has been recognised with twelve different awards from five different sources, all in the last 18 months.

“They mean a lot,” said Warrick. “Our whole marketing campaign is around setting great standards of excellence, being recognised for those standards, and then promoting that recognition on social media.”

The Watervale’s food gongs include Readers’ Choice in the Australian Good Food Guide in 2022, Best Restaurant in a Regional Hotel in 2021 and 2020 by the AHA|SA, and Best SA Restaurant in a Pub/Club, Best SA Tourism Restaurant in 2021 in the Restaurant and Catering Awards.

“The real hero of the restaurant is the farm,” said Warrick. “All the vegetables, everything we’re growing, is not only fresh but organically and biodynamically grown.

“Quite frankly, Nicola’s a genius.

“Her job and the job of her team is to enhance and enrich the wonderful produce that mother nature has gifted us.”

The wine list at the Watervale Hotel has also been highly regarded by industry award bodies, winning Australia's Wine List of the Year - Best Pub Restaurant Wine List in Australia in 2021, and SA Wine List of the Year in the Restaurant and Catering Awards in 2021.

“If the hero of the kitchen is the farm, then the hero of the wine list is the Clare Valley,” said Warrick.

“We’re starting a long way ahead of the game… what sets it apart from most wine lists in the country is that it’s incredibly purposeful.”

The Watervale’s wine list includes almost every Clare Valley producer, and all 30 grape varieties grown in the Clare Valley. The hotel also offers daily wine masterclasses on the local wines, as well as wine flights in the afternoons, and wine matched degustation dining.

“We haven’t set out to have the best wine list, we’ve set out to have the very best wine list to promote the diversity and virtues of Clare Valley wines,” said Warrick.

Wines from the Clare Valley make up about 80 percent of the list, with the other 20 percent carefully selected from all over the world - varieties and styles of wine that can’t be found in Clare.

“That’s really with the wine enthusiasts in mind, and particularly the Clare Valley market,” he said.

“They’re winemakers … they’re looking for something really, really different that they haven’t tried.”

With Warrick and Nicola being self-proclaimed “nowaste warriors,” it is fitting that the Watervale Hotel has been awarded the AHA National Award for Excellence – Best Environmental and Energy Efficiency Practices Hotel in Australia for 2022.

“In absolutely every decision we make, we’re thinking about the health of the planet as the number one criterion,” said Warrick.

“We’re putting the health of the planet before cost and profitability.”

As well as waste reduction, the Watervale Hotel focusses on composting (which goes back to the farm) and recycling, and takes sustainable measures such as using recycled paper to print menus, and stocking Who Gives a Crap toilet paper.

While it’s been a busy few years for Warrick and Nicola, there’s no slowing down for the pair. Their focus is on developing the tourism experiences available – such as cooking masterclasses, wine masterclasses, and a farm tour and degustation experience - and ensuring the offering is at an international standard.

As for the long-term plan, the two have just entered into contract to buy ten hectares of property directly behind their farm, with the intention of building luxury accommodation.

The Watervale Hotel is poised for rapid growth, with tourism soon to take off post-COVID-19. The hotel is looking to upgrade its leadership and will recruit talent at all levels of the organisation, from a general manager through to front-of-house staff and chefs. If you feel like this is an opportunity for you, please email the Watervale Hotel.