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From the Board NICK ENTWISTLE
IT IS a somewhat surreal feeling to have finished blending this early in the year, and to be discussing the very real prospect of having an empty cellar in the not-toodistant future. Such is life when an early start to picking combines with low yields, outstanding wine quality, and a continued high demand for Marlborough wines in market. All indications are that this demand will only continue, as buyers clamber to secure volume, and sales teams are forced to make some hard calls about who gets what, how much of it, and at what price. Most wineries I have spoken
And although our second vintage under pandemic conditions felt somewhat easier and less stressful than the first, the far-reaching impacts on how we live and do business cannot be ignored. Closed borders have highlighted the risk of a heavy reliance on temporary overseas labour, and if the indications from central Government are anything to go by, access to overseas workers will continue
“The low yielding vintage may be causing some shortterm pain, but ultimately, we will overcome this challenge as we always do.” to talk of a continued trend towards premiumisation, as larger volume bulk blends into low margin markets are eschewed in favour of higher priced bottled products for longstanding customers with strong relationships. Looking back to 2019, when much of the talk about premiumisation began to gain momentum, there was no way of knowing that we would soon be thrust into the throes of the largest global pandemic in recent history. But from adversity comes creativity and innovation, and I am extremely proud of the way in which both our country and industry has tackled some extremely difficult challenges during this time.
4 / Winepress June 2021
to become increasingly difficult and unaffordable. But it is not all doom and gloom. The predicted impact that closed borders would have on accelerating innovation and investment in new technologies locally is starting to be realised, with several exciting projects underway across the region. The University of Auckland’s Centre for Automation and Robotic Engineering Science (CARES) recently released information about a virtual reality (VR) vine pruning tool it has developed, that has the potential to revolutionise the way in which we train and assess pruning staff. VR has the advantage over traditional in-field training due to the
