Altogether Unique

There was a 25% increase in attendees, compared to 2024. Amassing a group of influential, inspiring business leaders, and having them speak to topics of relevance for our industry, is a highlight of the year for the NZW Brand team. Connecting to share ideas and learn together helps us embrace the challenges that face New Zealand Wine when markets are more competitive than ever and our industry needs to keep its ‘saws sharp’.

The Wine Business Forum was once again made possible by the generosity of our speakers, who invested their time and energy to help us traverse topics and markets, including opportunities in the United Kingdom, Europe, United States and Asia, with the likes of wine marketing strategy, digital tech stacks and artificial intelligence. A healthy dose of Brand New Zealand and our sustainability credentials was thrown into the mix.

The impressive speaker lineup included Lulie Halstead from the UK, Rob McMillan from the US, Natalie Wang from Hong Kong, Benjamin Gibson from Australia, as well as our New Zealand-based speakers, David Downs, Kathryn Topp, and industry peers Belinda Jackson and Meagan Littlejohn. Together, these speakers offered valuable global context, and helped us gaze into a crystal ball, revealing opportunities amidst market headwinds.

With Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand celebrating 30 years, the forum explored the value of sustainability credentials to wine businesses. A NZW member is traditionally asked to share their expertise and insights so we were delighted Belinda Jackson accepted our invitation. As Sales and Marketing Manager of Lawson’s Dry Hills, she outlined the company’s journey to becoming New Zealand’s most sustainably certified wine brand and discussed the value the business has reaped from the process.

Planning is underway for the 2026 Wine Business Forum, to be held 27 August 2026. Let us know (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) if there are topics you want to see discussed, or if you would like the opportunity to share a topic on wine business with your peers.

New Zealand & Australia European Tastings 2025

NZW and Wine Australia once again combined to hold a trade and consumer tasting in Europe at the end of September. Stockholm and Amsterdam were the chosen cities this year, and we welcomed over 50 New Zealand exhibitors across both events. The tastings were very well attended, with key buyers, importers, sommeliers and media, as well as a sold-out consumer session. For trade, the masterclass theme explored the history and evolution of Australian and New Zealand Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with winemaking representatives on hand to assist with insights. Demand was so high that we presented two sessions in each city. We are looking forward to collaborating again to host a joint Annual Trade Tasting in London, Edinburgh and Dublin at the start of 2026.

International Pinot Noir Day

International Pinot Noir Day, on 18 August, celebrated New Zealand’s top exported red variety. NZW ran a PR and social media campaign to celebrate the day, by pitching to media in our key export markets and providing members, broader trade and media with a Pinot Noir Day toolkit. The campaign generated 27 media articles that reached 404,000 people, with an equivalent advertising value of $29,000. The toolkit was downloaded 710 times, and there were 13,247 organic social media impressions across Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.