THE MENU Time to team tasman talents

Press, 21 April 1989, Page 25

THE MENU Time to team tasman talents

Phillip Pye

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The world, it seems, is becoming smaller. I don’t mean in size but in terms of the availability of its wines.

I remember only a decade or so ago when wines such as Blue Nun were allocated to retailers; now one can almost buy as much as one likes.

The same goes for Australian and New Zealand products. It was not too many years ago when one could only buy a mere smattering of New Zealand and Australian wines in countries such as England, and what was available was certainly nowhere near either country’s best. There is a far greater and much more open international wine market now, and the New Zealand consumer is finally tapping into it. Probably one of the most controversial issues in free-market policies is the C.E.R. agreement, devised to knock down trade barriers between Australia and New Zealand. Most Kiwi wine producers loathe the idea; most of the Australian wine producers love it.

Let Aussies in here with all those top red

wines at half our price? No way, reckon most Kiwi producers. However, some have been relatively smart, and sort of joined forces, like Corbans and Wolf Blass or Mildara and Morton Estate. We are now seeing blends of Australian and New Zealand wines like the Bakano; and the Andrew Garrett Pinot Noir Methode Champenoise.

The Australians should not be blamed for supposedly bombarding us with a deluge of cheap wine. Cheap much of it is indeed, in comparison with much of the locally made wine, and ironically enough, it is imported by New Zealand-

owned companies. Their attitude to the consumer buying the stuff: if there were no buyers there would be no sellers. No one has the right to deny the liquor retailers the right to provide the consumer with competitively priced wines, and if they come from Australia, Chile or even France — so be it. Where New Zealand does excel is in the quality of its white wines, particularly Chardonnay and sauvignon blanc and I might add, Canterbury Rhine riesling, and they are the wines that we should be concentrating on for export. The English are only too pleased to pay good money for these wines, whereas the Australians mostly want to take it away in bulk form, and who knows what happens to it after that. The Australians are well aware of our white wine quality, and our weaknesses in red wine production, and would dearly love to combine the two and really woo the Americans and English with a world-winning combination. The Australian and New Zealand wine industries are really rather

small by world standards, but the awareness of fine wines from both countries is becoming greater every day. If both industries joined to form an Australasian wine industry — and they may as well unite because political unity is much closer than most realise — there would be greater marketing power to ensure greater success for what has the possibility of being a very lucrative venture for all.

Just think of the jobs that would be provided; I most certainly like that idea. The Wine Institute for starters, though, has to encourage the many boutique vineyards to learn how to market, for that is one area where most of the New Zealand wine industry fails.

We have an array of excellent wines that have emerged over a very short period. This is a sure sign that at the turn of the century, such wines may be being chosen for the very best eating houses of Paris and Rome. To get them there, we need to band together with our Tasman neighbours, for united we stand, divided we fall.