NZ wine to be showcased in new podcast series

thedrinksbusiness.com | 18 February 2019

Industry body New Zealand Winegrowers has teamed up with podcast creator Lawrence Francis of Interpreting Wine in order to provide in-depth coverage of its annual tasting.

The podcast series will take the form of seven episodes, featuring interviews with four winemakers and three regional masterclasses.

The first episode will be unveiled today (18 February) with all seven due to be released by 24 February.

The podcasts are available free of charge on major platforms including Spotify and iTunes. They will also be made available on the New Zealand Winegrowers website at a later date.

The episode schedule is as follows: episode one, Jamie Marfell, group winemaker at Pernod Ricard; episode two, Warren Gibson, winemaker at Trinity Hill; episode three, Sam Bennett, winemaker at Te Pa Wines; episode four, Kevin Judd, winemaker and owner at Greywacke; episode five, Rebecca Gibb MW, a masterclass on Central Otago, episode six, Ronan Sayburn MS and Kevin Judd, a masterclass on Marlborough; and episode seven, Rebecca Gibb MW, a masterclass on Hawke’s Bay

Europe marketing manager at New Zealand Winegrowers, Chris Stroud, commented: “We were delighted when Lawrence approached us to cover our annual tasting on his podcast. This series allows people who were not able to attend our tasting the opportunity to hear directly from the winemakers and learn from the regional masterclasses. We hope it brings a flavour of New Zealand to them.”

Lawrence Francis, content director at Interpreting Wine added: “Podcasting is a versatile and effective tool for wine communication. I know farmers who listen to the show on their tractors and others who play it while driving or working off their wine calories in the gym. In September 2018 Ofcom found that half of UK podcast listeners are under 35 so I think it’s an excellent way to connect with young wine drinkers.”

New Zealand Winegrowers’ annual London tasting took place on 16 January this year. You can listen to the podcast series here.

New Zealand wine industry plans for Vintage 2017 after Kaikoura Earthquake

Media Release, New Zealand Winegrowers

new-zealand-wine-industry-plans-for-vintage-2017-after-kaikoura-earthquake58466ec39f416
Philip Gregan, CEO of New Zealand Winegrowers.

The New Zealand wine industry is busy planning for the upcoming vintage after taking into account the impact of the recent Kaikoura earthquake. “We have completed our survey of the impact of the earthquake on our members, ” said Philip Gregan, CEO of New Zealand Winegrowers. “It is clear there was some wine loss as a result of the earthquake, but it amounts to only a little over 2% of Marlborough’s total production. While this is frustrating, this is not a major concern as vintage 2016 was a near record one. This means there is plenty of wine available to continue our market growth.”

As expected the major impact on wineries has been to storage tanks. “Many wineries, both small and large have escaped with no damage at all, but in others, damage to tanks has occurred. Our initial estimate is that 80% of tank capacity in Marlborough is undamaged, but around 20% has been impaired to some extent. These numbers may change as the process of damage assessment continues. ”The priority for wineries with damaged tanks is to repair or replace the tanks they need to have in working condition for vintage 2017.”

“The process of tank repair is already underway but it is going to be a big task which will continue for many months. We have been liaising with affected wineries, engineers, tank manufacturers, the government and the Marlborough District Council to ensure there are no unnecessary impediments to that process proceeding as quickly and safely as possible.”

“Marlborough produces well over 200 million litres of wine each year with over 80% of this destined for export markets. Despite the obvious damage to transport links, we are not aware of any particular issues affecting the movement of wine out of the region at the moment.

We are working with various transport operators, ports and the government to identify and address any issues should they occur.”