Small wineries struggling
It might have been a bumper vintage but wineries both big and small have had to change their marketing strategies in order to sell their drop and it’s a struggle for some.
Wineries that rely on cellar door sales, restaurants and cafes for trade have suffered major losses over the past few weeks.
Kathryn Loughlin, of Askerne Wines in Hawke’s Bay, said while it was selling to some supermarket chains, it was heavily reliant on specialist bottle stores and the hospitality sector to market its products.
‘‘We’ve taken quite a hit. We’re still selling online but it doesn’t make up for the usual sales.’’
Shawn Brown, the owner of 33-year-old business Muirlea Rise in Martinborough, said his winery had taken a big hit as it relied solely on cellar door sales and tourism.
‘‘There’s very little online sales, as it’s incredibly competitive. We are still seeing some traffic but I’m guessing we’ve had a 90 per cent drop,’’ Brown said.
‘‘We have a cellar door which we generally run throughout the year and on Saturdays, with the bike rides, we can get 230 to 250 people through here easily, so that’s our principal way of selling it.’’
Brown hadn’t sold to cafes and restaurants for quite some time due to the winery’s size. ‘‘Another major problem is we’ve just had to process all our fruit and that comes at a hell of a cost.
‘‘It’s in the thousands of dollars by the time you’ve bought your fruit and processed it. Just picking the stuff is about $300 a tonne.
‘‘In level three, travel will only be for essential workers. Martinborough is like a playground for Wellington, it’s right on the city’s doorstep but right now it’s a ghost town.’’
Larry McKenna, from Escarpment Vineyard, said he sold wine through a distributor in Auckland to restaurants and licensed ontrade businesses.
‘‘That business has been decimated for the time being. We have been selling through social media and made a bit through that but nothing of what’s required, so we are certainly looking forward to returning to the ‘new normal’.’’
McKenna said wine distributors would also be affected during lockdown. ‘‘The distributors will be the ones who are caught in the middle and will be holding all the stock and can’t sell it.’’
Bart Arnst, winemaker at The Darling, said even though harvest was a success, selling the wine wasn’t easy in current conditions.
‘‘We usually sell wine in small supermarkets, retail shops, restaurants and some online sales but, obviously, the hospitality side is where the pain is going to come from for everybody, not only for wineries but restaurant owners as well.
‘‘I guess the crunch will come once the wine is in the bottle – we’re an export-dominant country but it’s unknown what kind of economy the wine will go into.’’
Arnst said the irony was that 2020 had seen a ‘‘stellar vintage’’.
‘‘There’s been some great wines, especially reds, that stood out.’’
The chief executive of Te Mata Estate in Hawke’s Bay, Nicholas Buck, said his winery had been focused on making wine since the bumper vintage.
‘‘We’re extremely grateful that we’re deemed an essential business and can keep operating. Our primary focus at this time of the year isn’t actually sales, it’s always about harvest.
‘‘Covid-19 has changed things dramatically. It’s been much more challenging to try and process export orders.’’