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Destination Seller Cloudy Bay redefines the cellar door experience SOPHIE PREECE
WHEN NICKY Hewett started work at the Cloudy Bay cellar door 10 years ago, tastings were free and the queue could be three to four people deep on a busy day. There were no food options, staff were harried in the busy summer season, and visitors left with little impression of the brand and its stories. The experience these days couldn’t be more different, with tiered tastings charged at different price points, including library and rare wines at the top end. Jack’s Raw Bar tempts many to linger at the edge of the lawn over summer months, supping on wine and slurping down oysters in the shade of Cloudy Bay’s iconic gum trees. Others dangle in egg chairs hanging from
Nicky Hewett and Joyce Tang
10 / Winepress December 2019
those trees, and soak up the view to the Richmond Range, reflected on Cloudy Bay’s label. “We are giving people more Joyce Tang at the Cloudy Bay cellar door options,” says Nicky, customer with well-trained and professional experience manager at the Cloudy staff, who understand the wines Bay cellar door, which won Wine and stories of Cloudy Bay and also Marlborough Cellar Door of the Year last month. “It regulates the flow a little Marlborough.” Cloudy Bay didn’t stop at the bit, and you definitely get more people counter, but instead pushed their who are seriously interested in tasting “cellar door experience” to the Cloudy Bay wine.” vineyard, the winery, The Shack Offering a range of different (Cloudy Bay’s stylish accommodation), tastings was part of ensuring a better and the Marlborough Sounds. experience for customers, many of Personalised vineyard tours roll out whom are on their “pilgrimage” to in a refurbished 1985 Land Rover, Cloudy Bay, says Nicky. “We also named Dave the Defender after David wanted to staff our cellar door well,
