Misha's Vineyard

Narrow Goalposts

There was a lot of expectation that the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) would provide a huge boost to New Zealand’s economy and it seemed like the perfect platform to showcase New Zealand’s wonderful food and wine offerings, but the anticipated crowds and their spending didn’t quite meet expectations.

There was certainly going to be an impact in terms of visitor numbers in the South Island after the Christchurch earthquake forced changes to match locations, but even in the North Island, there were only pockets of optimism and enthusiasm around the Cup. Was rugby and wine a perfect match anyway?

Misha provides some insight as to who scored during the RWC.

To read the full article download the PDF version below.

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Tags: Misha Wilkinson, Misha's Vineyard Wines, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, NZ Wine, Rugby World Cup, RWC, WBM, wine Business Magazine

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Waipara – Shaken not Stirred

It’s just over a year since the first earthquake hit Christchurch but that September shake was just an aperitif as another was served on the city nearly six months later causing major devastation. In this feature, Misha looks at Waipara – one of New Zealand’s up-and-coming wine regions located just 50 minutes drive north of Christchurch’s main quake zone- to see how they are faring. Although shaken, it seems wineries in the region have not been stirred from their resolve to put Waipara on the tourist map. They now share a stronger commitment than ever in working together as a community to become “the most exciting wine and food region in New Zealand” – their newly adopted mantra.

To read the full article download the PDF version below.

Waipara – Shaken not Stirred – Download PDF

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Tags: Angela Clifford, Misha Wilkinson, Misha's Vineyard Wines, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, NZ Wine, Paul Donaldson, Waipara, Waipara Valley, WBM, wine Business Magazine

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Trading Places – Part 1

It’s one of the toughest times for the New Zealand wine industry with production excesses and market dynamics creating risky and volatile trading conditions. Whilst most wine producing nations would consider it a bear market for selling wine, New Zealand is still bullish about its liquid assets and seems better placed than most for a strong recovery.
With New Zealand’s biggest trading partners being the UK, Australia, and the US, rampant currency fluctuations are creating serious fiscal pain for exporters. Added to the exchange rate woes, the 2011 harvest was an unexpected 328,000 tonnes with 23% more grapes being picked than the previous year. However Philip Gregan, Chief Executive Officer of New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) still believes wineries can proceed with “cautious optimism”.
In the first of this two-part feature Misha Wilkinson reports on the biennial New Zealand Wine Exporters’ Forum held recently in Blenheim, Marlborough, and the predictions and opportunities that lay ahead for New Zealand wine.

To read the full article download the PDF version below.

Trading Places – Part 1- Download PDF

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Tags: Chuck Hayward, JJ Buckley, Michael Walton, Misha, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, New Zealand Wine Exporters Forum, Nielsen Pacific, Philip Gregan, Social Media, WBM, wine Business Magazine

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Misha’s Vineyard Training at Taylor’s Uni, Malaysia

Our activities with our distributor, CK Chew, of Finlux in Malaysia included some training at Taylor’s University – which is now the largest and most established hospitality and tourism management school in South East Asia. They have a state-of-the-art modern campus adjacent to a 5 acre lake and they also have the most amazing facility to conduct wine training! Andy, Olly and I presented for nearly two hours to a group of almost 30 students, starting with an overview of what is New Zealand famous for – including of course the All Blacks and Lord of the Rings – and fantastic wines! We also went into detail why New Zealand uses screw caps, what New Zealand’s key varieties are and where they’re grown, and what makes New Zealand wines unique. Of course Olly also took them through 5 wines from Misha’s Vineyard explaining every aspect of the varietals tasted along with a backdrop of some stunning visuals of New Zealand.

Joaquim Dias Soeiro, is the Programme Director at Taylor’s, and he was delighted to be able to offer his students the opportunity to learn about wine from a real winemaker! Olly did a wonderful job explaining everything from TCA to the benefits of oak barrels and even how to evaluate and score wines.

Talking to the next generation of Asia’s sommeliers and hospitality managers is a great way to influence the trend toward New Zealand’s vibrant wine styles. The group was keenly interested in all aspects of New Zealand wines, and continued to ask many very good questions about the wines, packaging, storing and tasting well after the session finished. We are very confident this group of students will join the Malaysian hospitality industry with a keen knowledge and interest in New Zealand.

And as a result of visiting Taylor’s Uni, Misha has ended up with a lot more friends on Facebook with many of the students wanting to come to New Zealand to help with the next harvest! See you all in Central Otago!

Tags: Andy Wilkinson, CK Chew, Finlux, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, Olly Masters, Taylors Uni, Wine Distributor

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Is Central Otago Pinot as Good as it Gets?

Central Otago is a phenomenon in the wine world – a region that produces an infinitesimal amount of wine in global terms but a region which is not insignificant in terms of its reputation.

In the February edition of Wine Business Magazine Misha looks at whether the quality of its wines live up to the hype! The article explores the region, the organizations and the fast transition from pioneering wine district onto the centre stage of world wines.

To read the full article download the PDF version below.

Is Central Otago Pinot as Good as it Gets? – Download PDF

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Tags: central otago, central otago pinot, Central Otago Pinot Noir, Misha, Misha Wilkinson, misha's, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, pinot noir, WBM, wine Business Magazine, Wine Business Monthly

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Filling America’s Cup

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Misha’s feature for the September issue of WBM was called Filling America’s Cup which looks at the opportunities for New Zealand premium wines in the competitive US market.

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Filling America’s Cup – Download PDF

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Tags: central otago, central otago pinot, Central Otago Pinot Noir, Misha, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, pinot noir, US wine market, WBM, wine Business Magazine, Wine Business Monthly

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Our Japanese distributor, Apurevu Trading, is really making the most of their “exclusively New Zealand” wine portfolio. After participating in many different trade events recently, they held their own event in Tokyo on the 7th September for the first time. They exhibited over 50 New Zealand wines with more than 120 trade clients attending the event in spite of it being an extremely hot day in Tokyo! The good news was that the feedback from their customers about our wines was incredibly positive – we seem to produce a style of wines that really hits the mark in Tokyo where they particularly appreciate the aromatics of our white wines and the structure and finesse of our Pinot Noir. We hope Apurevu do more events as it helps to create more interest in New Zealand wine in Japan.

Tags: Apurevu, misha's, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine

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Misha and Andy recently had the pleasure of training almost 50 of the staff at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands on New Zealand wines, Central Otago region and on our Misha’s Vineyard Pinot Noir. “It is always such a great experience to be able to talk directly to the staff who will be recommending and pouring the wines to guests in great establishments like this $6.5b casino, restaurant, bar and entertainment complex” said Misha.

Misha’s Vineyard Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc are served at the Premier Lounge – where the high rollers of the world come to gamble huge sums. A recent Channel News Asia special program on the planning and the development of Marina Bay Sands called “Paradise in the Sky”, showed Christine Kaelbel-Sheares, Director of Piaza, VIP F & B introducing the features of the premier lounge and the selection of premium wines. This program provided great exposure to the Misha’s brand and New Zealand Pinot Noir across Asia. Misha’s Vineyard wines are also served in several other fantastic bars and restaurants in the complex.

This staff training session at the Marina Bay Sands follows similar sessions done at several other premium hotels and restaurants across Asia where Misha and Andy have been able to take management, bar and serving staff through a one hour training program which introduces the uniqueness of New Zealand wines, provides some background on the region of Central Otago, tells the stories of Misha’s Vineyard and then goes through a tasting of the wines. Much of the training material is supplied by New Zealand Winegrowers and shows both the focus on quality in New Zealand as well as the iconic environment that the wines are produced in. “You can taste New Zealand’s spectacular scenery and pure air in the wines” says Andy in his introduction of the presentation.

“The reception to this training has been wonderful” says Misha. “All of the places where we have conducted training have asked if we can come back on a regular basis to provide follow on training to new staff”.

Tags: Andy Wilkinson, central otago, central otago pinot, Central Otago Pinot Noir, Marina Bay Sands, Misha, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, New Zealand Winegrowers, pinot noir

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Establishing a Misha’s Vineyard footprint in key parts of the world is the top priority this year for the sales and marketing department (aka Andy and me!). We have just announced our second distributor in Australia, Estate Wine Distributors. We’re absolutely delighted because Peter Papanikitas has an experienced team who are focussed on the restaurant sector in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, and Cairns. And we have completed our first shipment to South Korea through our agent there and the wine will go into restaurants. We’re happy to have been able appoint seven distributors in seven markets and hoping to increase that number by the end of the year.

We have just spent a week in the UK and attended the New Zealand Summer New Release Tasting at NZ House on the Haymarket. The two consecutive trade tasting days were held in the Penthouse of New Zealand house which had panoramic views across London. It was a spectacular place for a wine tasting and our wines received lots of positive comments. We also met with potential distributors and visited a few great dining spots including The Providores (www.theprovidores.co.uk/ and The Modern Pantry www.themodernpantry.co.uk/)
– and oddly enough they both have NZ-focussed wine lists! Also went to a very fab restaurant that’s casual but cool just near Charring Cross called Terroirs (www.terroirswinebar.com/). I had an amazing dish of braised rabbit on polenta and washed it down with 2007 Barbera ‘Ronco Malo’ produced by Vittorio Bera from Piemonte – fab!

Some really exciting news is that three of our wines have been selected for the 2010 Tri Nations Wine Challenge this year: Misha’s Vineyard Limelight Riesling 2009, Misha’s Vineyard Dress Circle Pinot Gris 2009 and Misha’s Vineyard Verismo Pinot Noir 2008. The latter is our Reserve Pinot which we have just released so it’s very flattering that it’s been chosen as one of the top Pinot Noirs to represent New Zealand competing against the best of Australia and South Africa.

Early in July I’m off to Tokyo for just a few days for the NZ Trade Tasting event at the Ritz Carlton along with some trade activities including a wine tasting at the glamorous Isetan store in Shinjuku which has the most beautiful fine wine section that includes a gated cellar! And then we’re off to the US to attend a fantastic event called the International Pinot Noir Celebration and to hopefully find a distributor for our wines there. Will keep you posted!

Misha

Tags: Estate Wine Distributors, Misha, Misha Wilkinson, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, The Modern Pantry, The Providores, Tri Nations Wine, Verismo, Wine Distributor

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Since September 2009 Misha has been writing a New Zealand focussed segment in Wine Business Magazine (WBM), an Australian wine business magazine published in Adelaide by Free Run Press under Editor Anthony Madigan. With kind permission of WBM the articles written by Misha are re-produced in PDF form below and are available for visitors to Misha’s Vineyard website to read. Please respect the copyright that applies to these articles and make any requests for re-use of the content to Wine Business Magazine, 37 Fullarton Road, Kent Town, South Australia 5067. Phone: +61 8 8362 3122.

WBM September 2009: “Neighbourly Advice”. This article reports on the biennial New Zealand Wine Exporters Forum held in Christchurch on 29th to 31st July 2009.

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WBM November 2009: “Japan – Too big, too hard or too good to miss?” A look at the opportunities for New Zealand in the Japanese wine market.

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WBM December 2009/January 2010: “On with the show – or not.” A review of the benefit of submitting wines for medal contention at NZ wine shows.

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WBM February 2010: “Is New Zealand Savvy about Aromatics?” With the success of Sauvignon Blanc around the world, are the range of New Zealand cool climate aromatics also getting enough attention?

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Tags: Anthony Madigan, Aromatic White Wines, central otago, central otago pinot, Free Run Press, misha's, mishas vineyard, new zealand wine, WBM, Wine Business Monthly, Wine Exporters Forum

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