NZ wine store

So says Matthew Jukes, regarding the news that London is to get the UK’s first ever store dedicated solely to New Zealand’s premium wine.

Mel Brown’s (owner of New Zealand Cellars) bid to raise funds to open a specialist New Zealand wine store via crowd-funding platform Kickstarter has been a huge success. The goal was to raise £35,000, with 103 percent of that raised within just five days. By the time the campaign had ended, Brown had raised more than £42,500, allowing her to develop the Brixton based store to an even higher degree than she had originally hoped.

The whole process has been humbling for her, especially given she had only a matter of weeks to put together her campaign and raise the funds, for a store-cum bar in a new development in the centre of Brixton.

It was the time constraints she says, that led her to go public for funding assistance.

“The immediacy of the opportunity we have been presented meant we had very little time to pull the required money together. Watching several very successful crowd-funding campaigns get launched and finish fully funded in short periods of time gave me the idea that by creating a powerful campaign we might have a chance of convincing everyone this was a worthwhile investment for the future of premium New Zealand wine in the UK.”

While Brixton in south London may be best known for its Caribbean influence, for Brown it was the obvious choice for a specialist wine store.

“I live in south London, so a location close to home was imperative for me. Travel time is minimised and I have more time to spend with my daughter, when I’m not talking about New Zealand wine.

“Aside from these obvious points, Brixton is going through an amazing regeneration at the moment.”

The New Zealand store will be the only wine store within the Pop Brixton development, which Brown says will host 1000 or more people over Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week. 

“The reach and awareness created if we were a single shop on a high street would not have the same impact as this one offers by utilizing the expertise within a core community,” she says. “The New Zealand Cellar’s infancy has contributed to us making this decision and we are hoping to grow steadily to move to that stand alone shop.”

Brown’s on-line business currently lists 200 New Zealand premium wines from more than 70 producers. She says initially the plan is to have the same wines available within the shop, although expanding the portfolio is already being discussed as is a plan to directly import from New Zealand.

While the space available for the store is not huge, Brown says they will make the most of it, lining each wall with New Zealand wine, and providing a daily tasting of at least a dozen wines. The space will also be available for New Zealand wineries visiting London, who want to conduct tastings.

Given the funding achieved was far higher than what she had set out to raise, just who were the people investing in Brown’s dream? 

“The majority of pledges we received were from the New Zealand wine industry and producers. And quite shockingly, the British wine and food press. There was an underlying factor across all pledges that was based around the encouragement to actively play a part in watching New Zealand wine succeed.”

Brown says she is now turning her attention to developing New Zealand Cellars on-line site further and ensuring it is integrated into the store.

“The extreme support received over the last 12 months has been a testament of the strength and confidence the New Zealand wine industry has for the UK market and for this I am truly grateful. The UK is very much a developed market, requiring continual nurturing and investment. If I can offer support by generating further engagement and sales for New Zealand producers, then hopefully this can confirm our status as a premium wine producer and extend the recognition our producers deserve.”

Crowd funding success

New Zealand Cellars is not the only company to have success with crowd funding in the past few months.

Invivo Wines, founded by old school friends Tim Lightbourne and winemaker Rob Cameron have also had huge success. The guys had hoped to raise a minimum of $500,000 when they launched their crowd funding campaign in mid March. However two weeks before the campaign ended, they had raised a New Zealand record and the maximum amount allowed, $2 million (400% oversubscribed!)

Utilising the platform Snowball Effect, Invivo now welcomes 439 new shareholders, who will together hold 20 percent of the company.

Invivo Wines came onto the market back in 2008 – right in the middle of a financial crisis. Via some very clever marketing, including having their wine drunk on set by British talk-show host Graham Norton – who is now also a shareholder, the company has grown exponentially and featured in Deloitte’s Fast 50 New Zealand Companies in 2012. So much so that any further development required a boost in capital.

According to the NZ Herald, Invivo has experienced more than 200 percent revenue growth since 2011, has forecast net income of $152,000 from sales of 5.1 million in the 12 months to March 31 this year. The company is targeting revenue of $25 million by 2020, and already sells its wines into 17 international markets.

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