Personalities of the year
There were a number of subjects that came up when NZW CEO Philip Gregan and I discussed this year's NZ Winegrower Personality of the Year.
In the past year a strong sales performance combined with the smaller 2012 vintage has brought some much needed tension back into the supply demand balance. Grape prices have risen and profitability of growers has improved markedly – this is great news for the industry’s key supplier base.
On the wine side there was something of a swing back to packaging product in New Zealand, while for bulk wine exporters there was a definite rise in value. The dollar also appears to be relenting against the US currency, this is very good news in one of our key growth markets.
There is now a cautious optimism that pervades in the sector. This was reflected in the results from our recent Members’ Survey. 87% of respondents said they viewed the business outlook for the next 12 months as okay or better. Even the most negative group in this survey, our small wineries, still had an optimism rating of 79%.
These scores reflect the dramatic change in industry confidence that the past year has brought. It is of course important we do not get ahead of ourselves, but we are much better to be pulling back on confidence than pulling out vines.
Our Members’ Survey also highlighted the value that growers and wineries place on the information that NZ Winegrowers provide to them. All groups were uniformly positive about the value of that information with 95% viewing the information provided as okay or better. This is a very strong pointer that information such as our grape price data, the vineyard register, recent viticultural monitoring reports, the monthly export data are important tools in business decision makiing for growers and wineries.
Less positively there was a clear ‘do better’ message for Sustainable Winegrowing from the Survey. There is clear support for sustainability, but there was some consistent and significant negative ratings around Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. In the year ahead we will address the issues of compliance, cost, and relevance to ensure this programme retains the support of the industry.
The Members’ Survey was just one aspect of us doing business differently consequent to the new Strategic Plan we now have in place. There were lots of other changes as well – we downsized our Australian office, we refocused our London office in Europe and we opened a new office in Hong Kong. We are putting together a Primary Growth Partnership application and, in the next few weeks we are investing further in our Advocacy team when we
open an office in Wellington for the first time.
One of the key initiatives last year was our involvement in the Cheers! Programme. Cheers is an initiative with brewers and distillers in New Zealand to promote better behaviours around the consumption of products involving alcohol.
I believe the wine sector has always been an exemplar for social responsibility. The focus on quality before quantity, on wine and food matching, our commitment to hospitality all show the way forward for the wider New Zealand community in terms of social responsibility.
However, we cannot rest on our laurels as the forces opposed to the responsible and enjoyable consumption of wine (and other products containing alcohol) are becoming ever more strident about alcohol issues. Cheers is about individual and social responsibility, it is about really making a difference in that area of behaviour change. It is something we are deeply committed too.
Our business is about places and people. Places such as Central Otago where I come from, Waipara, Nelson, Hawkes Bay or wherever.
It is our places and our people that provide interest and nuance to New Zealand wine. Regional differences are an essential part of our industry and our people, the grape growers and winemakers who use their skills to export and celebrate those differences are an integral part of the New Zealand story.
The people are our grapegrowers and winemakers who grow the grapes and craft the wine from each of these regions and sub regions to produce distinctive, high quality and sustainable wines. Our success in doing this – in producing wines that are unique and distinctive but at all times New Zealand – is the reason we have now grown exports to $1.2 billion per annum. It is the reason exports will continue to grow strongly in the future.
Our people transform the potential of our land into the reality of the 2.5 billion glasses of New Zealand wine that are served around the world each year. ν
