Wine Marlborough Limited Annual Report 2024

Chair's Report

BETH FORREST

Last year was a year of celebration and reflection on the Marlborough wine industry’s success story with the significant milestone of turning 50 years as a wine growing region.

It has been a stellar ride to global recognition and success, and it would be so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that this wave will continue forever.

How quickly we have had to readjust and reset our expectations over the past twelve months. The situation has changed for many who may be experiencing a slowing rate of sales, too much stock, changing consumption preferences, vineyards reaching replacement age or maybe having a varietal mix that isn’t optimal.

Your board are committed to making a difference and sharing information is key. However, to uptake information and make use of it, people have to be on the lookout for it and connected and engaged with the industry. Our job is to package information up and deliver the right info to the right person.

Our recent ‘Snapshot of the Marlborough wine industry’ survey provided important insights for your regional association and led to the ‘Industry Outlook’ summary report being published in September Winepress. Continuing the theme of information sharing, a Marlborough Wine Industry Pre harvest Summit will be held in late November with speakers providing insights on three topics; vineyard financials, cost management in the vineyard and forecasting supply to match demand and carryover inventory.

Some of the particular highlights for us as a board this year.

We brought WinePRO to the region with Expertise Events and Marlborough District Council in June and are planning WinePRO 2026. Over 1,450 unique visitors visited 100 exhibitors over two days. Approximately 300 people chose from 25 sessions in the WinePRO Conference. The positive encouragement and feedback will enable the event to return better than this first successful effort.

Significant investment in workforce planning was supported by funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, New Zealand Winegrowers, and MRC. A first of its kind Skills Report for the wine industry was completed by BERL and released in May. Food and Fibre CoVE (Centre

of Vocational Excellence) and Muka Tangata, (Workforce Development Council for People, Food and Fibre) have singled this work out as an exemplar and have asked to work with the industry to develop further understanding of wine industry roles, to look for commonalities amongst similar primary industries and produce practical resources to help attract and retain workforce. This continues this work and will improve outcomes.

We are embarking on a regional water resilience project having submitted with Federated Farmers into the Marlborough District Council Long Term Plan. Our vision is for a regional response to a changing climate, one where there is enough adaptability in the system for all water users to win. We are at the beginning of a long project, and you will hear more about this.

It’s well known that Wine Marlborough deliver great events, but costs are increasing far faster than revenues. This year the board agreed to a commercial audit of the Marlborough Wine & Food Festival event by an independent expert. The request was to review the event, recommend any improvements and give the board four options for after the 2025 event which is locked in for delivery.

The review found the event was extremely well managed, with a clearly defined purpose and measurable strategic objectives. The board are assessing three options – refine and continue delivery in house, outsource delivery of the event and deploy staff involved to other priorities, or wind up the event.

The geographical indication boundary has been a topic of discussion with some feeling the boundary is too large and

threatens the potential quality and volume of what can be Marlborough wine. We are looking closely at this issue and will consult with members to gather thoughts and opinions. Any change would need significant education and patience.

Wine Marlborough continues to be a hub for gathering problem solvers together through projects like the Circular Wine group working on industry waste and greener solutions to energy and processes, the Wellbeing Group, who collaborate with Farmstrong and continue to promote the need to balance work with the Five Ways to Wellbeing and recognise excellent practices here, the Young Viticulturist and Young Winemaker committees who

champion our newer talent pools, and the Wine Tourism steering group who work to connect all involved in this part of the wine and tourism sectors and make our destination as good as it can be.

There are too many groups and too much activity to list and it makes the job of being involved in your industry association a rewarding experience. I want to thank all those who contribute their time to advance our industry. Also there needs to be a huge thank you passed to all current and past board members and Wine Marlborough staff for their support and I encourage any other ‘big picture’ thinkers to join the team and be a part of shaping our next 50 years.