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A young Hawke's Bay winemaker is setting up New Zealand's first mobile Méthode Traditionelle bottling service, after being awarded $50,000 ASB Backing Business Grant.
Jascha Oldham-Selak's idea was inspired by his travel to Champagne, where he noticed many smaller producers benefitting from a premium bottling service that came to them.
Jascha sepcialises in making sparkling wine and says the capital injection will allow the addition of a an Italian made GAI bottling machine for triage, where the wine, yeast and sugar are bottled.
"This will be a great improvement for consistency and efficiency relative to the manual hand bottling process used previously," says Jascha.
Entrepreneurs from across the country were invited to apply for one of four $50,000 grants to help them bring an innovative idea to life, either within their business or launching a new business.
ASB executive general manager for Business Banking Tim Deane says the grants were aimed at inspiring businesses to keep adapting and innovating so they could come through Covid-19 on a firm footing.
"We've heard from some incredible companies doing some truly amazing things, particularly during Covid."