Words of warning…

February 5th, 2010 | Posted by Kirk

Straight from Stuff but worth repeating…

A New Zealand wine industry leader says British critic Oz Clarke has given the industry a timely warning not to flood its main export market with cut-price pinot noir, as is already happening with sauvignon blanc.

Mr Clarke, reigning world wine tasting champion, told the Pinor Noir 2010 conference in Wellington last night that “oceans” of New Zealand sauvignon blanc were hitting British supermarket shelves at prices that undermined New Zealand’s position as holder of the highest average price of any country in the market. He warned New Zealand pinot makers not to increase the damage by dumping pinot at low prices.

New Zealand Wine Institute chief executive Philip Gregan said today that many in the industry agreed with Mr Clarke. “I think it was a very timely reminder. I think everybody in the industry is aware of the significant downside of exporting bulk wine from New Zealand,” Mr Gregan told NZPA. “It was positive to hear an outside commentator say what many in the industry would strongly agree with.”

Mr Clarke said German rieslings and Australian chardonnays and shirazes had similar experiences in going from premium products in Britain to a flood of inferior products at cheap prices, ruining those winemaking countries’ reputations in the market. “In 2009, New Zealand, the country which had fought so hard and so successfully to achieve its high-priced, high end exclusivity, decided to dump unwanted Marlborough sauvignon blanc on to our market at a giveaway price,” Mr Clarke said. “The British supermarkets enthusiastically obliged and suddenly everyone is saying: hey, I thought New Zealand wines were supposed to be expensive. Was someone pulling our leg? What a pity that supply of the same cheap savvy, the ‘Savalanche’, is already earmarked for the British market for 2010. And if grape harvest predictions are correct, for 2011 too.

“Suddenly, that expensive, precious sought-after pinot noir from the world’s most exclusive wine country looks far too dear. New Zealand? Top quality pinot noir? No. That’s where the cheap sauvignon comes from. Don’t think it couldn’t happen. It’s happened twice before in these last 30 years.” Mr Gregan said the overall average price of New Zealand wine in Britain had fallen to about £6.10 ($NZ13.55) a bottle from £6.50 last year. “That is a significant drop. Having said that, the average price for the whole market is about £4.30 so we’re still way above the average,” he said.

Mr Clarke said pinot noir may have only been in New Zealand for a generation or two, but the country’s pinot winemakers could cement their position at the top of the wine world in the next decade if they learnt from the “sauvignon crisis”.