Happy Monday!!! (2-11-08)

Early Monday morning we were in Marlborough and had the opportunity to meet with Andrew Naylor who works for Montana Wineries (owned by Pernod Ricard, an international drink company). He met us at an overlook of one of their vineyards, Brancott Vineyards, which was an amazing site (Brancott is Montana’s wine brand in the US) . The Marlborough region kicked off its vineyard production in 1972-73, so it’s still a relatively young area for grapes. Andrew joined the company in 1995 and it doubled in size in the next 5 years. So the grape boom is relatively recent. Montana owns 1800 hectares of corporate fruit and 1500 hectares of contracted fruit in the Marlborough region (which is about 4000 acres total). They grow about 65-70% Sauvignon Blanc - Pinot, Chardonnay and Riesling make up the rest. We discussed land cost, labor and government programs and the associated cost of compliance. In USD it would be about $50,000/acre for raw land, $12,000-15,000/acre to establish vineyards (this does not include cost of frost protection/wind machines). Operating cost is around $3000/acre, 80% of which is tied to labor. They need about 500 people to complete the different tasks throughout the year but employee turnover is so bad that they end up hiring 800-900 different workers. Currently about 70% of their labor comes from NZ (the other 30% is mostly Europeans, Czechs and Yugoslavians). However the NZ government established a program relatively recently called Recognized Seasonal Employee (RSE) where they are encouraging all off-shore labor to come from the Pacific Islands. This is the first farm we heard about this program, but we have heard several growers mention it since. So it seems cost of compliance is going to be somewhat of an issue. They will have to pay for transport and housing as well as provide pastoral care. Andrew is a very busy man and I think we were fortunate to steal an hour or so of his time.

Later that morning we visited with Sue at Prenzel’s Distillery where we learned the history of their company and took part in some tastings. It is the largest distillery in NZ and they have nine storefronts across the country (3 run by them and 6 franchised stores as well). They currently have the #1 gin in the world, but they also carry additional value-added products including oils/vinegarettes, ice cream toppings and flavored salts that have done very well for them. One of the most interesting products was a honey liqueur, often used in tandem with hot tea when feeling under the weather. I definitely went ahead and purchased some of that. I imagine it will be my favorite new remedy.

Before heading to Motueka we stopped by Hawkesbury Road, which is clothing company with a heavy focus on Merino wool. Paula (Polly), the owner, shared the history of her family and background. She and her three sisters grew up in the NZ high country and her family farmed sheep. She actually thought that she would spend her life up there, but after her parents sent her to university she developed a passion for quality merino wool clothing. It was interesting to hear her success story and see how she was able to maintain her ties to the agriculture component. The words of advice she had for us was to maintain high quality and keep it simple – keep it smart. Don’t try to get bigger than you are – quality, quality, quality…

After we left some American dollars behind at Hawkesbury Road we headed on to Motueka. Here we prepared a pasta/sausage dinner complete with a brownie dessert and NZ favorite, hokey pokey ice cream. It was delicious and appreciated by all. We were soon all in bed to rest up for another full day of activity.

Jen Snavely