October 2011

"USA,USA,USA"

I travelled to the USA in June this year to spend some time in the trade alongside our agent Marty Tiersky.

We began our tour in New Orleans where T.H.E. , thanks to the great work of our distributor, has excellent coverage throughout this fine city.  Restaurants abound and although, like our own Christchurch, this area has had to deal with varying natural disasters, NZ wine is greatly accepted.

After a stint in Las Vegas we went to Marty’s home town of Chicago where once again THE has excellent traction and is being poured at some very fine establishments in this great city.

Los Angeles, and a lot of sun, which was nice considering NZ was under a blanket of snow. Our agent here, Mike, is based in Santa Monica and suffice to say it is the perfect place for our NZ Sauvignon Blanc. Lots of seaside cafes and fine dining restaurants meant we were busy for a few days travelling around and doing tastings and talking wine.

My general impression of the USA market is that they love our fragrant white wines and our price points hit the spot in both retail and on premise. Pinot noir is a more difficult proposal as California & Oregon produce a lot of this wine. Hopefully NZ wine continues to grow in the market and we can maintain our quality image.