Annual Report WINE MARLBOROUGH
2019
CELEBRATE
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GROW
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EDUCATE
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PROTECT
Purpose | Why we exist Proudly standing up for, and building, the reputation of Marlborough’s wine region. Beliefs | What we stand for Providing leadership in times of opportunity, challenge and success. Future proofing the success of our members. Being a window for the world to fall in love with Marlborough. Celebrating a great Marlborough wine-growing community. Selling Marlborough as a great place to live, play and work. Supporting members to gain and retain new talent. What we are going to achieve Marlborough will be the world’s greatest wine region.
From the Chair & General Manager TOM TROLOVE & MARCUS PICKENS
LAST YEAR we reported on the Marlborough Winegrowers Strategic Plan through to 2021, which was an important milestone for the organisation and gave us renewed assessment of our priorities and goals for the board and Wine Marlborough team to work towards. Our main goal is to make Marlborough the world’s greatest wine region. We have set the bar as high as we can and, as a board, we are pleased with the progress towards our aims. The Wine Marlborough team are held to account through their 90 day planning cycles and a new reporting format at board meetings, which focuses on progress against our strategic goals. We defined our purpose as proudly standing up for, and building, the reputation of Marlborough’s wine region. This statement is the backbone of the organisation. The strong culture we have as a board and team has been gently shaped to be more prepared to stand up and be courageous, and demonstrate our purpose and call out the good and the bad if ever it should occur. We feel the Marlborough Winegrowers board is very reflective of the industry at large today. It is a relatively young board, which reflects the changes across the industry, and has three female directors, improving its gender diversity. We hold at least six board meetings per year, as well as additional meetings for the finances
and marketing functions. The board has also recently decided to retain the split of representation Tom Trolove, MWG Chair. Photo by Jim Tannock of five grape grower representatives and five wine company The Marlborough Wine Show has representatives. The board believes been a wonderful acquisition for the this serves your interests best. While organisation. Having recently delivered there are very few, if any, votes based our second show, we are pushing on the member groups, it is the balance through with a number of innovations of representation and views that and changes, including a new naming matters to us in the board room and, sponsor in QuayConnect. We have we believe, to our membership. We feel doubled down on our freshening up that both vital groupings deserve equal of the awards event, which is now representation at the board table. the Wine Marlborough Long Lunch Our trading company, Wine Celebration. We are committed to Marlborough Limited, is 100% owned bringing the industry together to by Marlborough Winegrowers celebrate and connect and are thrilled Association Incorporated and is tasked with the support and endorsement the with implementing our Strategic Plan industry has given us. You may know through General Manager, Marcus we auction off the remaining wine that Pickens. all entrants donate and we have now The Wine Marlborough team established a Future Leaders fund to has built and delivered a work plan support members of the industry in that aligns all our efforts into six key their pursuit of future learning and challenges: leadership opportunities. Applications 1. Protect Marlborough’s wine are open and enquiries about the brand; purpose should be made to General 2. Grow our member engagement; Manager, Marcus Pickens. 3. Relentlessly share the The organisation was deeply Marlborough Wine Story; involved in the delivery of the 4. Create and sustain workforce outstanding International Sauvignon availability; Blanc Celebration held here in late 5. Generate sustainable funding; January 2020. Wine Marlborough 6. Achieve sector wide clarity on agreed to be a principal sponsor, roles and responsibilities. given the importance of Sauvignon We have made meaningful progress on Blanc to this industry, with a $25,000 a number of these activities, and I will investment. We also agreed to touch on a few important initiatives. support the event with a significant
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amount of in-kind staff time, which was of substantial assistance to the event, given our expertise in event management and delivery. The celebration hosted 82 international visitors and had up to 460 people attending some of the evening events. The event showcased our outstanding natural environment and profiled a large number of winery locations, restaurants and venues over the three days the guests were here, and we hope it has a lasting positive benefit to all our members. A new concept was introduced to welcome sommeliers to the region via the New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) Sommit, and we hosted two separate groups in 2018 and another in 2019. We designed a programme called Bach Hop, showcasing the Marlborough Sounds and welcoming visitors into our backyard to show off another asset for Marlborough. The feedback we receive from the groups is great - they love going into hosts’ baches and playing at being a real Kiwi for the day, while discovering more about our wines through structured tastings, conversations and interactions with other groups throughout their time here. The organisation’s objective of ‘relentlessly sharing the Marlborough wine story’ comes to the fore with these previous examples. Alongside this, core activities such as those listed below are of high importance to us: • The Marlborough Wine & Food Festival • Sauvignon Blanc Day • Regional Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the Year • Wine Marlborough Silver Secateurs • Marlborough Cellar Door of the Year • Bayer Young Viticulturalist of the Year • Winepress Magazine Wine Marlborough also prioritises effort into the advocacy area, with the past year demanding an exceptional focus. Most of the work is in the areas
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of ‘protect our members’ interests’ and/or ‘create and sustain workforce availability’. Water has been a priority area, and our key target in the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan. The board decided to allocate significant resources to this to ensure our position of aligning with the Marlborough District Council in requesting status quo on the river trigger levels for surface irrigation. Advocacy Manager Vance Kerslake led the submission process with the General Manager. We engaged experts to assist our position. WSP-Opus did a sensitivity analysis on low flow trigger levels on both the Awatere and Wairau rivers, and The AgriBusiness Group presented an economic impact report on various low flow levels. We also engaged Pattle Delamore Partners to present on instream ecology and were ably represented by Steve Wilkes of Wilkes RM and Quentin Davies of Gascoigne
We feel members trust us to get the balance right Wicks Lawyers. We await the findings of the hearings panel and hope these are favourable to our member group, but will evaluate any next steps once we have had a chance to review the decision. Recently, the Healthy Waterways and Highly Productive Land consultations have been made, this time with NZW rightly taking the lead with our submission supporting theirs. The number of consultations from Government has reached an almost impossible level and we have often had overlapping deadlines and consultations on the go. We feel members trust us to get the balance right, but of course always welcome direct input, feedback and individual
submissions by members, which most often are the most powerful of all. The organisation is a strong supporter of the various regional groups such as Appellation Marlborough Wine, Mana, Organic Winegrowers New Zealand and Méthode Marlborough, all trying to push their collective messages to consumers and gatekeepers. We involve and support them wherever we can, as we would with other interest groups that align with our purpose and have member support. This past year we have worked hard to use our strategic plan to clarify our roles and responsibilities with NZW, given the increasing expansion of Marlborough and also the number of staff NZW have here. We have developed a matrix highlighting which organisation leads activities and which one supports those activities. This has been presented to NZW and agreed on, but will be refined and expanded as required to aid even more clarity. Funding is always a key driver, and the NZW Levy return to us is vital. We believe that Marlborough Winegrowers delivers outstanding value for our members. We deliver world-class activities on a shoestring and are accountable for every dollar spent. We have put it to NZW that our efficient delivery of service and activity should be rewarded by further funding, to further improve what we can do for you. The team are united in their purpose and clear on who we serve - our members. We are all proud to do so, while striving for Marlborough to be the greatest wine region in the world. Thank you for the opportunity to lead this organisation and represent you. Tom Trolove Chair, Marlborough Winegrowers Association Board Marcus Pickens General Manager, Wine Marlborough
Treasurer’s report BEN ENSOR
MARLBOROUGH WINEGROWERS had a busy and complex operating environment in the 2019 year, ending June. The accounts are audited as a consolidated entity, but Marlborough Winegrowers, which primarily is the levy-receiving incorporated society, returned a surplus of $33,956, while the 100% owned trading company, Wine Marlborough Limited, returned a deficit of -$34,675. This results in the consolidated audited accounts reporting a very small deficit of -$719.00 once depreciation and amortisation had been factored in. The realities are that the organisation remains under pressure to deliver more and funding remains relatively constrained. Thankfully, Marlborough Winegrowers has built and continues to protect good reserves of over $1 million - now standing at $1.025m - a very similar position to those at the end of the 2018 financial year. The picture could have been worse, as the board accepted a deficit budget for Wine Marlborough Limited once special extraordinary expenditure was budgeted for to allow a comprehensive and compelling submission to the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan on your behalf. The quantum on what this action would cost was unknown to us, so $40,000 was allocated to it, with the board in unanimous support of funding this extraordinary expense from reserves if required. We received advice from our longstanding accountants Leslie + O’Donnell on how best to record this on our profit and loss and annual accounts. In the end the action, described in the Chair’s report, totalled $67,576 in external costs, with no staff costs or voluntary member time factored in. The board was pleased with the quality of our investment and
are hopeful that decisions on areas we submitted strongly on find members’ favour. In another focus area, also discussed in the Chair’s report, the International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration was a significant investment, with $25,000 of cash sponsorship and approximately $50,000 of in-kind staff support, which lay within our employment expenses. The employment of an events assistant through the year, to deliver some of the Sauvignon Blanc Celebration activity and job share some of the Market and Communications Management role, gave the organisation capacity to deliver a great deal of work this year. Other highlights included: • Staging our first Marlborough Wine Show in 2018, following its acquisition in 2017. We have just delivered the 2019 event and the organisation is beginning to make its mark with the show and its celebration. A small loss of -$3,955 in this set of accounts is expected to be reversed in the next set of accounts. • Winepress Magazine delivered a strong surplus while maintaining its core role of membership communication and education, particularly for growers. Surplus of $26,834. • Marlborough Wine & Food Festival, with another strong performance for Marlborough’s marquee event. Surplus of $148,686. • Small surplus from continuing to sell down Riedel Sauvignon Blanc glassware stock of $1,454. • Delivery of the Wine Marlborough Ltd strategic plan at a cost of $18,870, mostly to consultants Inspiring Performance.
Ben Ensor, MWG Treasurer
• A combined surplus from delivering our wine and viticulture events of $12,363. • A small board fee of $100 per meeting per board member was approved at the 2018 AGM. • Recently the board invested in stand up desks for the team to improve their workplace and improve work flexibility. This has been greeted enthusiastically by the team and by visitors. • Assisting Marlborough’s Women in Wine group with financial administration. The levy the organisation depends on is capped at 5% of the total collected by New Zealand Winegrowers. This equated to $499,800 in this financial year. The board believes that the return on this investment is supercharged by the efforts of the Wine Marlborough staff and by the significant support from you, our members, often in kind. It is a credit to the team that they have managed to deliver more than any other year, and have managed to bring the organisation into a near break-even position, without requiring the reserves to be drawn down. Thank you for your hard work and dedication and thank you to my fellow Finance Committee members, Nick Entwistle, Beth Forrest and Tom Trolove. Ben Ensor is Treasurer for Marlborough Winegrowers Association
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Celebrate OI Glass Marlborough Wine Show | October 2018 Pinot Noir was the big winner at the Marlborough Wine Show 2018, with examples ranging from 2012 to 2017 taking out the three major awards. Winner of the OI International Wine of the Show was Villa Maria’s Single Vineyard Seddon Pinot Noir 2015. Being the first year that Wine Marlborough has run the Marlborough Wine Show, we introduced a long lunch to announce trophy winners and celebrate the wine industry as a whole. Our guest international judge was Matt Lamb from Apples & Pears group based in Melbourne. Lifetime Achievement Award | October 2018 Dr Rengasamy Balasubramaniam (Bala) was presented with a Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 OI Glass Marlborough Wine Show. Bala knows more than most about Marlborough vineyards, from soil biology and botrytis control to land conversion and grower liaison. His 32-year career in the science and business of wine has included developing VineFax and the Botrytis Model, growing one of the country’s largest wine companies, and a steadfast dedication to the health of Marlborough’s vines and wine industry. WineWorks Wine Race | November 2018 The 2018 race saw 47 yachts race across Cook Strait to Wellington carrying Marlborough wines. It was the largest fleet the race has seen, with close to 30 wines entered. Line Honours went to Codebreaker and the handicap winner was Sequin, carrying Clos Marguerite. Cellar Door of the Year | November 2018 Forrest Wines took out the title of 4 / Wine Marlborough Annual Report 2019
the Wine Marlborough Cellar Door of the Year at the annual awards for the 2018/19 season. Second place for Cellar Door of the Year went to No. 1 Family Estate, with Hans OI Marlborough Wine Show Champion Wine of the Show, Villa Herzog claiming Maria third place. Winner of Cellar Door Personality of the Year was Cellar Door Manager of Whitehaven Wines, Karen Marchant. “I love working for Whitehaven and it’s really a dream come true working in the wine industry,” Karen says. Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the Year 2019, Emily The competition is a Gaspard-Clark way to celebrate and promote the brilliant cellar doors Showcased were 536 wines from and cellar door hosts that ensure the 60 producers, representing six New Marlborough wine story is proudly Zealand wine growing regions. Wine shared with both visitors and locals. Marlborough staff were heavily involved in event and sponsorship International Sauvignon Blanc management. Celebration | January 2019 Marlborough Wine & Food Festival | Wine Marlborough was substantially February 2019 involved in this New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) event. The International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration was built around three themes; Place, Purity and Pursuit. Eighty two international experts, key influencers and wine producers attended. Nine masters of wine were among the speakers, and more than 350 guests attended the celebration.
The 2019 festival saw close to 8,000 people on site, with 83% of guests attending for the wine, according to our post event survey. Close to 40 wine companies had stands and around 20 foodies were offering different dishes. With another strong improvement in the VIP offering, and the introduction of the Platinum Package, guests have
the option of experiencing a premium festival offering. The festival continues to be an extremely strong event with a great reputation locally and nationally, and we had some guests travel from overseas to attend. Sauv Blanc Day | May 2019 This was predominantly a NZWled campaign, with digital toolkits provided to members. Wine Marlborough celebrated the 2019 day at The Wine Station, in an industry event with a strong focus on spreading the #sauvblanc day word on social media. Overall, there was a huge increase in engagement on #sauvblancday and #nzwine posts across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Young Viticulturist of the Year | July 2019 The Bayer Young Viticulturist of the Year Competition is now in its 14th year. It is a fantastic opportunity for young viticulturists (30 years or under) to upskill, grow in confidence, widen their networks and start making a name for themselves within the industry. Eight competitors took part in the regional competition, where Ben Richards of Indevin took out the title and went on to represent Marlborough at the national competition. Young Winemaker of the Year | August 2019 Now in its fifth year, the competition supports emerging winemakers and is open to those under 30 years old who are involved with wine production. Eight competitors took part in the regional competition, with Emily Gaspard-Clark from Spy Valley going on to represent Marlborough at the national competition, where she claimed the title of Tonnellerie de Mercurey NZ Young Winemaker of the Year. Silver Secateurs | August 2019 As New Zealand’s largest wine producing region, we could not make our wines without the men and women from all over the globe doing
an important job in our world-renown vineyards. The Silver Secateurs is an opportunity for the wine industry to celebrate and support this group of hard-working professionals. We held 11 events within the competition, Marlborough Wine & Food Festival which saw Thornhill win the Overall Contractor Award and Max Maralau of Vinecraft claim the John Bibby Memorial Trophy for Overall Champion of the Competition. Felco Kiwi Pruning Competition | August 2019 The industry Sauv Blanc Day 2019 recognises that grapevine pruning is an integral management practice required for quality wines. The competition was developed in conjunction with Felco to find a suitable contestant to travel to Switzerland in March 2020, to represent New Zealand in an international pruning competition. Contestants completed three different sections of spur pruning, cane pruning and theory which saw Kerry Hammond of Starborough Farming Company claim the inaugural title. QuayConnect Marlborough Wine Show | September – October 2019
With a new naming sponsor, this year’s QuayConnect Marlborough Wine Show continued to showcase and celebrate New Zealand’s leading wine region. There were a total of 558 entries (including student and legacy class). Of these, 8.7% were awarded gold medals, 24.3% awarded silver medals and 48.1% awarded bronze medals. Judges included Jack Glover (Chair of Judges), Ben Glover, Jeremy McKenzie, Helen Morrison, Abigail Maxwell, Liam McElhinney, Murray Cook, Kyle Thomson, Jordan Hogg, Hannah Burns, Andy Petrie, Nikolai St George and Emily Gaspard-Clark. Guest judges included Bhatia Dheeraj
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Forrest Wines at the QuayConnect Marlborough Wine Show 2019
(Est, Merivale Group, Sydney) and Joelle Thomson. We celebrated at the QuayConnect Marlborough Wine Show Long Lunch Celebration, where Forrest Estate Wines celebrated a hat-trick of trophies. Not only did the company take out the QuayConnect Champion Wine of the Show with Forrest Pinot Noir 2017, they were also awarded the Classic Oak Products Champion Pinot Noir 2017, with Forrest Pinot Noir 2017, and the Wine Marlborough Champion Rosé Trophy for The Doctors’ Rosé 2019. The Marlborough Museum Legacy Trophy was awarded to Zephyr Riesling 2011, 2014, 2017. Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award | October 2019 Wine Marlborough awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr John Forrest, of Forrest Estate Wines, for
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his innovation and passion within the Marlborough wine industry. The award, which recognises the pioneers of the modern-day industry, was presented to Dr Forrest at the Long Lunch, held on Friday October 25. Continually fighting to make Marlborough a quality producer renowned throughout the world, Dr Forrest was a founding member of Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW) established last year. AMW’s aim is to produce wines that fit four criteria: Origin, Integrity, Authenticity and Sustainability. Dr Forrest has long been one to stand up against high yields and low quality, which he believes can only damage Marlborough’s reputation. Wine Marlborough General Manager Marcus Pickens says Dr Forrest has done much for Marlborough in his 31 years as a
“The 2019 festival saw close to 8,000 people on site, with 83% of guests attending for the wine.” winemaker, and is the perfect recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. “Marlborough wine owes a lot to his efforts and his determination to make this region stand out on the world stage, as a high-quality producer.” Previous recipients of the Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award are: Gerry Gregg, Ross Lawson, Phil Rose, Ivan Sutherland, Jane Hunter and Dr Rengasamy Balasubramaniam.
Grow Election | 2018
We had 94 members vote in the grower category and 49 vote in the winery category. Successful grower candidates were Callum Linklater and Ben Ensor, while the wine company votes went to Beth Forrest, Jamie Marfell, Tom Trolove and Nick Entwistle. Wine Marlborough Staff | September 2019 The start of the 2019 financial year saw a change in staff, with Loren Coffey beginning a 12 month contract as the Events Manager. Winepress Magazine Winepress continues to be one of our most well received and best read forms of communication. Each month 900 copies are printed and sent to Marlborough growers, wine companies and key industry personnel across the country. Many of our advertisers have placed ads in Winepress since the first
Winepress continues to be one of our most well received and best read forms of communication. edition, and many new advertisers have come on board over the years. The scale of advertising allows us to publish more articles for you. Election | 2019 Kirsty Harkness, Managing Director of Mount Base Vineyards, was elected to the Marlborough Winegrowers
Association Board as a grower representative. Marlborough Wine Show Fund | October 2019 Wine Marlborough continues the Marlborough Wine Show tradition of selling the remaining wines from the 2019 show, sponsored by QuayConnect, and ring-fencing the funds for supporting people or organisations within the industry doing industrygood projects. As we continue to make changes to the way we run the Marlborough Winepress Magazine Wine Show, we have departed from the post-show auction and devised an easier way for everyone to purchase the remaining unopened wines. Although we ask for the minimum requirement, there are always some wines left over from the more than 540 entries. The funds go into the Marlborough Winegrowers Association Wine Marlborough team at the Wine Marlborough Long Incorporated Future Lunch Celebration Leaders Account. Submission into Annual Plan about Marlborough’s Future Growth Future growth continues to be a hotly debated topic, especially since PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that approximately 5,000 hectares of grapevines are likely to be planted in Marlborough between 2018 and 2025, at which point they predict Marlborough would be planted
out. Wine Marlborough had good success from our submission on the Marlborough District Council annual plan. Council will update the vineyard coverage map and a project to estimate the land area available for vineyard development. Council will also make a financial contribution towards updating the Marlborough Labour Market Survey. Wine Marlborough Annual Report 2019 / 7
Educate
Sommelier hosting 2019
Civil Defence Conference | August 2019
Pastoral Care Workshop | October 2018
Marlborough played host to the Civil Defence conference in August 2018 and Marcus Pickens presented ‘Glass Half Full: Industry led recovery in the wine sector’, on the recovery from the Kaikōura earthquake. It was a valuable exercise, mainly because presenting this topic forced us to revisit our response to the Kaikōura earthquake.
Wine Marlborough co-ordinated a pastoral care workshop for employers with the Primary Health Organisation, Immigration New Zealand, Police and pastoral care providers. We received excellent feedback and New Zealand Winegrowers intend to use this format as a template for other regions.
Grape Marc Workshop | October 2018
Wine Marlborough approached NZ Story to host one of their hands-on workshops in Marlborough. These very successful workshops give people the tools to tell their own brand story to the world.
A successful grape marc previntage workshop was held in early October with a large audience of wine company representatives (mostly) attending. The workshop was a successful collaboration between Wine Marlborough and New Zealand Winegrowers.
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NZ Story Workshop | May 2019
Grower Workshop | April 2019 The annual grower workshop was held again at VB Vineyards property.
There were 43 Marlborough wine brands involved, more than 80 wines were tasted and 12 wineries were involved in hosting. Attended by around 70 growers, focus areas included communication with contractors and grower/contractor relationships, quality control, vine health, trunk disease and rejuvenation programmes, biosecurity, cane pruning and best practice. Forgotten Corners | 2019 The Forgotten Corners series of articles from Winepress were republished in the Marlborough Express. There was
excellent feedback as a result of these articles, with many members of the public unaware of the work being done to restore natural habitats and enhance biodiversity. Organic & Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference | June 2019 Wine Marlborough was a sponsor of the conference and hosted Mermaid Mary (Mary-Therese Blair) as part of the Organic & Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference, during which she visited 10 wine companies that produce organic wine and attended the conference. We also sponsored Sophie Otton to attend and present at the conference. Sommelier Hosting | September 2019 Wine Marlborough hosted 14 international sommeliers as part of Sommit, a New Zealand Winegrowers visitor programme. There were 43 Marlborough wine brands involved, more than 80 wines were tasted, 12 winemakers were involved in hosting, and eight individual wineries were visited in small groups. MANA winegrowers and Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW) also hosted the group. The programme consisted of a group welcome dinner followed by a visit to the Marlborough Sounds on day two, with a large boat, aromatics tasting at the Bishell bach, and a Pinot Noir tasting at the Allan Scott bach. There was an AMW dinner, individual winery visits on day three and a relaxed group lunch, before they continued to Central Otago. Wine Show Judging Workshop | September 2019 We ran a wine judging workshop for associate judges and lead steward at the QuayConnect Marlborough Wine Show. Hosted by Jack Glover, the goal is to educate and support stewards and associate judges in becoming senior judges in the future. Student Wine Class at QuayConnect Marlborough Wine Show | September 2019
Sophie Otton presenting at the Organic and Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference
Mary Therese Blair at the Organic and Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference
New for 2019, NMIT students were encouraged to enter their own wines in the student wine class. The winning wine has been presented with a trophy by NMIT and we hope to build on this for the 2020 judging.
NMIT Scholarship Wine Marlborough continues to award a student studying viticulture and winemaking a $1500 scholarship. This year it was awarded to Kate Macreadie.
Grape Marc Field Days | October 2019 There were field trips to the Grape Marc composting facility at Yealands Estate and the PacRimEnviro drying plant, in order to educate members about options for managing grape marc and promote best practice. These were well attended.
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Protect Labour Coordinator Relocated | October 2018 Wine Marlborough’s Labour Coordinator, Nicolette Prendergast, relocated to the Marlborough Community Centre, 25 Alfred Street, after more than 10 years of sharing office space with Work and Income. Changes at Work and Income at the national level meant the long-standing arrangement came to an end, but it’s not the end of the relationship which has helped many local people into work in the wine industry. RSE Increase | November 2018 Marlborough received an increase of 278 additional RSE workers for the coming season. Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan | February 2019 The long-delayed hearings on water use and allocation in the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan (PMEP) happened in February 2019. At this time we are still awaiting the outcome. Wine Marlborough presented evidence from resource management consultant Steve Wilkes (Wilkes RM Ltd), hydrologist Jack McConchie (Opus), economist Stuart Ford (The AgriBusiness Group), ecologist Laura Drummond (Pattle Delamore), 10 / Wine Marlborough Annual Report 2019
solicitor Quentin Davies (Gascoigne Wicks), experienced grower Owen Glover (Kerseley Farm and Zephyr wine), viticulturist Stu Dudley (Villa Maria, Deputy Chair Marlborough Winegrowers) and Marlborough Winegrowers Chairperson Tom Trolove (Framingham). Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand also
Wine Marlborough helped establish the Smart + Connected Labour & Skills programme to respond to the ongoing labour and skills shortage in Marlborough
supported our submission. Working for You Refresher Session | May 2019 With the winter pruning season getting underway, we ran a ‘Working for You’ refresher session with the Labour Inspectorate for growers, wine companies and contractors. Smart + Connected Labour & Skills | May 2019 Wine Marlborough helped establish the Smart + Connected Labour & Skills programme to respond to the ongoing labour and skills shortage in Marlborough. It is a coordinated, multi-industry, cross-sector approach. Wine Marlborough chairs the steering group and is the workstream-lead for housing. Vintage staff visa applications workshop | July 2019 A workshop for wineries about visa applications for vintage staff with Immigration New Zealand (INZ) and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) was attended by 22 companies. It was a good opportunity for INZ and MSD to hear about the challenges and frustrations of the process experienced by members. Harvest Remuneration Survey|
August 2019 We ran the second Harvest Remuneration survey in collaboration with a number of wineries in August. This collected benchmark information on hourly pay rates and benefits for harvest staff. The anonymised results were shared with participating wineries. Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards | May 2019 Wine Marlborough sponsors the wine industry category and has done so for a Narrows Vineyard. Photo credit: Whitehaven Wines number of years. The wine industry section was won (EPA) proposal to use by Pernod Ricard. Congratulations overseas information also to Tracy and Kevin Johnston to assess hazardous of Dayvinleigh who were finalists substances, including in the Landscape and Habitat agri-chemicals category for their vineyard wetland in New Zealand, development. Marlborough supported speeding Winegrowers is also a trustee of the up assessments, but trust and our nominee over the past six submitted that the years has been Ross Beech. EPA should still be Healthy Waterways proposals | required to consider October 2019 the New Zealand context when Wine Marlborough’s submission on applying information. the Government’s Healthy Waterways proposals focused on the fact that viticulture has not contributed to the degradation of waterways and sought changes to reduce the impact of the proposals on the wine sector. Glass packaging | October 2019 Wine Marlborough’s submission opposed a compulsory container return scheme and supported the submissions of New Zealand Winegrowers, OI Glass, Glass Packaging Forum and the Packaging Forum. Hazardous Substances | September 2019 Wine Marlborough’s submission on the Environmental Protection Agency
Highly Productive Land & Urban Development | October 2019 Two closely related proposals required councils to protect highly productive land from development Woodlot irrigated by winey waste water. Photo credit: while also freeing Whitehaven Wines up land for urban development. Wine Marlborough’s submission supported protecting highly productive land and supported urban development in Blenheim’s northwest.
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Marlborough Winegrowers Association Board Retiring Board Members Simon Bishell simon@caythorpe.nz Current Board Members Ben Ensor ben.lisa@clear.net.nz
Marcus Pickens General Manager marcus@winemarlborough.nz
Loren Coffey Fixed Term Events Manager events@wine-marlborough.co.nz
Vance Kerslake Advocacy Manager advocacy@winemarlborough.nz
Nicolette Prendergast Regional Labour Coordinator nicolette@wine-marlborough.co.nz
Harriet Wadworth Marketing & Communications Manager harriet@winemarlborough.nz
Joanna May Finance Administrator accounts@wine-marlborough.co.nz
Georgie Leach Events Manager
Sophie Preece Winepress Editor Sophie@sophiepreece.co.nz
Beth Forrest Beth@forrest.co.nz Callum Linklater callum@csviticulture.co.nz Jack Glover jack.glover@accolade-wines.co.nz Nick Entwistle nick@wairauriverwines.com Stuart Dudley (Deputy Chair) stuartd@villamaria.co.nz Tom Trolove (Chair) tom.trolove@framingham.co.nz Tracy Johnston Tracy@dayvinleigh.co.nz Jamie Marfell Jamie.Marfell@pernod-ricard.com Newly Elected Kirsty Harkness kirsty@mountbase.co.nz
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MARLBOROUGH VINTAGE 2019 TOTAL VOLUME OF GRAPES HARVESTED
*SURVEY TOTAL
SAUVIGNON BLANC (89.1%) 272,334 TONNES
23.3%
92,519 TONNES (SURVEY TOTAL) 107,533 (ESTIMATED TOTAL)
PINOT NOIR (4%) 12,338 TONNES
397,986
(SURVEY TOTAL) 413,000 (ESTIMATED TOTAL)
PINOT GRIS (2.8%) 8,684 TONNES
76.7%
CHARDONNAY (2.5%) 7,687 TONNES
305,467 TONNES (SURVEY TOTAL) 316,358 (ESTIMATED TOTAL)
RIESLING (0.8%) 2,491 TONNES OTHER VARIETIES (0.6%) 1,933 TONNES
2018 VS 2019 TONNES PRODUCED
-2.4%
+1%
-34%
-22%
-20%
313,038 305,467 2018 2019
509 (73%)
183 (27%)
150 (21%)
566 (79%)
26,850 HA 69%
11,830 HA 31%
+33%