Growing Wairarapa’s wine business

 The 49-year-old describes himself as one of the youngsters in Parliament in his new role, which sees him sit next to fellow vigneron and former Chair of the NZW Board, Stuart Smith, in the House of Representatives. 

Scott grew up in the Wairarapa and has spent the past 10 to 15 years on economic development agencies there. He has been on the board of the Wairarapa Regional Irrigation Trust; the region’s Chamber of Commerce and also been on the board of Massey University. He has also been a director of Transpower for the past decade. 

“I decided to take my involvement in local politics to the next level; to central government when I put my hat in the ring to be the Wairarapa MP,” Scott says, “and that was in April this year, so I have campaigned hard ever since.”

The new appointment means that he now spends more time living in Wellington and less at Matahiwi Estate; the Wairarapa winery that he began in 2000 when he first planted the vineyard. His winery was constructed in 2003, just in time for his winemaker Jane Cooper to make his wines. Like Scott, she was also born and bred in the Wairarapa and she has been working for him since they met in 2002. Cooper also has a wine brand of her own.

Scott says he wants to use his new role in Parliament to enable new international markets to be found for New Zealand wine. 

“From my point of view, it’s about encouraging people to market their product rather than just make it. If we can create a demand in China of  one bottle of our wine per town, then all our New Zealand wine is gone. We don’t make much of it, so we need to promote that clean, green, premium and safe product to the Chinese and Koreans. 

“Even the Americans don’t really know much about New Zealand wine, so there is enormous potential there too.”

Scott is also keen to improve the train network between Wellington and the Wairarapa to attract more people over the Rimutaka Ranges into the region. 

“It’s a marketing thing; letting Wellingtonians know that the Wairarapa is right on their doorstep and that wine and food are a very important part of that story.”

He says that Grow Wellington and Tourism Wairarapa are both on his hit list, as is Wellington City Council. He sees strong potential for collaboration between all three bodies, which could work more closely to encourage growth in the Wairarapa region, which, in turn, will help wine companies there. 

“I think that Wellington City Council should be collaborating with our council in the Wairarapa to promote the area. We can get more Wellingtonians over the hill; whether to live and bring their internet-based businesses or to commute. It all helps to build the population and people who sell stuff, including wine, in the Wairarapa.” 

In terms of how to grow New Zealand wine markets overseas, Scott wants to encourage non-wine industry leaders to play a part.

“I would like to see more independent directors on the governance body of New Zealand Winegrowers. I would like to see a Fonterra director and a Federated Farmers person sitting on our board. Add an IT and software marketing guru on our board too and that’s how we’d get some of that input that’s not there at the moment.”