As a regional marketing organization we have depended on levy funding passed through New Zealand Wine and with the recent funding model change this has provided more certainty for the core services we provide. Regardless, both the organization and its members aspire to more and resources are required. The level of collaboration observed in the industry is notable and will provide the basis for more partnerships. We are a group of relatively small producers on the world scale and one way we can make an impact is by working together. We all realize it and I can’t wait to work with our members and develop our own models and see further examples being developed by others in the near future.
New Zealand Winegrowers marketing strategy targets Northern Europe, North American and China with execution focusing on educating the educators and influencers about New Zealand wine. Thanks to collaboration from NZTE and NZW we look forward to seeing inroads made into these markets. From a Hawke’s Bay regional perspective, this is a great platform, but we need to go deeper and we are looking to augment this with efforts of our own. We see China as being the best long term market for us and with our finite resources we need to focus our efforts as a regional marketing organisation.
The topic of water has come to the boiling point here in the Hawke’s Bay. The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is looking to make changes to the Regional Resource Management Plan. The outcome of this could negatively impact our industry. This is a national issue as Hawke’s Bay produces a major portion of the countries full-bodied reds that many wineries outside our region rely on. Our association, through the leadership of grower Xan Harding, has partnered with Hort NZ, Pipfruit NZ, Hawkes Bay Vegetable Growers Association, Hawkes Bay Fruitgrowers Association and Heinz Watties in putting forth a submission. At this point we have to also take a worst case position and consider that the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme will not go forward. Stay tuned for the outcome as it may have downstream effects (no pun intended) on other regions.
Lastly, I believe we need to look at sustainability in broader terms at least from an internal standpoint. Sustainability needs to be viewed from a triple bottom line point of view. Without a focus on people, financial performance and environmental aspects the whole cannot be sustainable. After coming from the Hawkes’s Bay Vineyard Monitoring meeting where the most recent results were reviewed, I was concerned with the results. We need to learn and share best in class management practices or there is going to be rationalisation to come. ν
