Opinion: Joelle Thomson

Joelle Thomson

Journalist, wine writer and author joellethomson.com

Trading in a pandemic

Running your own business is challenging at the best of times, let alone in a global pandemic, so it’s encouraging to see independent operators surviving, says Joelle Thomson.

IT TAKES courage to start a business, let alone run one during a global pandemic, but that’s exactly what many New Zealanders continue to do. I take my hat off to them, especially when business turnover is down, global shipments are slow and there are a myriad of other distribution challenges.

Then there are the joys of mask wearing, staff shortages, illness, loss of loved ones and the unexpected issue for inner city Wellington of the protesters who camped on the lawns of Parliament, preventing 90% of nearby businesses from opening their doors for fear of being spat on, verbally or physically attacked.

While the protesters have moved on their sentiments remain, as a customer at Regional Wines, where I work one day a week in store, showed recently. He told me that it’s not the pandemic that’s going to kill us, it is people’s responses to it. I agreed wholeheartedly, until he took his mask off and started yelling at other customers about the Government’s response to the virus. It takes all sorts, and right now I feel lucky not to have to encounter all of them.

One of the genuine joys of being able to work in this industry is the continued contact with those at the hub of importing and distributing good wine.

Take Daniel Kemp. He is the founder, owner and managing director of Kemp Wine Merchants, a company dedicated to distributing top tier wines from New Zealand and the world.

Kemp started his business in 2001, when he began importing small volumes of interesting wines.

Four years later, he opened a wine store in Auckland called Great Little Vineyards, which is the public face of the business.

The aim is to share the great wines of the world with New Zealanders and tourists alike, not that many of the latter have made it into his store over the past two years. But, despite that and the enormous downturn in business from restaurants and bars, he remains one of this country’s most focused importer-supplier-distributors of good and great wines. His brands include many at the cutting edge of organic and biodynamic wine production and range from affordably low prices to ‘the sky’s the limit’.

One of the first formal tastings this year at Regional Wines was with the store manager, Dan Kemp, and yours truly. Not that there’s anything formal about Kemp. He is affable, warm and effusive. His aim, of course, is to sell wine to us, but we taste a lot more than we choose to stock in store. Like him, our tiny team is dedicated to providing diversity and quality across the board. So when pandemics, protestors, and daily life seem overwhelming, a decent glass of wine beckons. It is small business owners such as Kemp who make it possible to enjoy some of the best travel in liquid form to diverse places in the wonderful world of wine.

Two top class wines from Kemp Wine Merchants

Champagne Joseph Perrier Brut

RRP $86.99 The Cuvée Royale Brut is a superbly intense champagne with depth of flavour and complex tastes of white peach. Floral notes of white flowers give way to fruity ones, with dialled up yeasty freshness derived from 36 months ageing with 20% reserve wines in the blend. The blend is 35% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Meunier.

2017 Puriri Hills Estate Red

RRP $45.99 The rolling green hills of Clevedon, south of Auckland, are home to the grapes in this outstanding red. The blend here is Merlot, Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. These are all classic Bordeaux red grapes, which are the inspiration of Puriri Hills founder Judy Fowler, whose aim is to produce wines modelled on the great reds of Pomerol and St Emilion in Bordeaux. This is a full-bodied, ripe, dark-fruited red wine with firm, grainy tannins and complex flavours of cardamom, cedar, blackcurrant, blackberry and dark plum. This wine drinks beautifully now and has great potential to age for up to a decade.