Vintage 2024: Marlborough
"I'm just kind of pinching myself that the weather is so good," says Pernod Ricard's New Zealand Group Winemaker Jamie Marfell, as he approaches what will likely be his first Easter off in 34 years.
Bill Small, Naked Wines winemaker says the funds raised from a special 2014 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc will be donated to Habitat for Humanity Australia and used to help in the recovery and support efforts in Vanuatu, following the devastation of Tropical Super Cyclone Pam early this year. Three hundred cases of the wine Small and Small Angel 4 Vanuatu have gone on sale in Australia and if all are sold, $25,000 will be raised for the small archipelago's recovery efforts.
Marlborough has a special relationship with Vanuatu, given many of the RSE workers in the region come from that part of the world. When Cyclone Pam wreaked havoc in the Pacific, the impact was felt strongly in New Zealand's largest wine growing region.
Bill and his wife Claudia came up with the idea of a dedicated charitable wine to raise funds to help Vanuatu heal.
"The Cyclone hit at precisely the time we were about to start our vintage," Bill says. "Due to an inexplicable spreadsheet mishap, we somehow had ended up with an extra 300 cases of wine from 2014 that had no home and zero dollar value on our books. So I was sitting there wondering what to do with this wine at the same time as I was wondering how we could help Vanuatu. Needless to say the penny finally dropped, and with a quick email to Naked Wines, it was all organised."
Getting the juice into the bottle, to Australia and then sold and delivered has also seen a multitude of companies come to the table, donating their services free of charge. WineWorks donated their bottling line to get the job done, and also helped procure free bottles and caps. Rapid Labels donated the labels, which have been deliberately printed in black and white to keep costs down. Also, New Zealand Wineries did all they could to make sure that the wine was ready to go on the day of bottling - even though it was smack bang in the middle of harvest. JF Hillebrand, who are involved with Naked Wines international shipping, agreed to donate the cost of getting the Small and Small Angels 4 Vanuatu wine from New Zealand to Australia.
BAM wine logistics have donated warehouse storage space, Naked Wines will promote and sell the wine, and finally, Fastway couriers have agreed to donate delivery services.
Mark Pollard, Wine Director at Naked Wines Australia, said; "It's been easy to get people to support this cause — they're donating their time and expertise, doing something they're already highly skilled at."
The Small and Small Angel 4 Vanuatu is only available in Australia.
