Terry Dunleavy: Spending spree on wine will pay dividends

Early last year, the CEO of New Zealand Winegrowers, Philip Gregan, was in London and had a chance encounter in the corridors of New Zealand House with the retiring High Commissioner, Russell Marshall.

Never known for a significant interest in New Zealand wine, Marshall said, "I have to tell you that New Zealand wine has transformed the way people in Britain think about New Zealand."

This unsolicited accolade should be taken into account by those who have criticised our present High Commissioner, Jonathan Hunt, for spending a tad over $14,000 to replenish the diplomatic wine cellar in London.

Having just been in London for the 25th annual presentation of New Zealand wines to the British trade and media, I had the opportunity to view the list of wines chosen by Hunt, and I think I am qualified to say that his purchases will do our industry, and our country, proud.

As New Zealand's senior diplomatic representative in Britain, Hunt is expected to serve the best our country has to offer.

When it came to wine, he had to take into account the fact that for the past seven years New Zealand has enjoyed the singular distinction of having the highest average retail price per bottle of all wines imported into Britain - by a margin, currently, of £1.70 ($4.41) a bottle.

This is no mean distinction for little New Zealand in the country regarded as the most complex and influential in the world wine trade, and which imports from every known wine-producing country on the planet.

How satisfying, for instance, that in this statistic we beat France and, indeed, Australia, which is second.

Not only does Hunt have to pay a little more for the best of New Zealand wines, but he has to acquire them as soon as they come on the market, for some, such as the iconic Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc, are on allocation and sell out very quickly.

New Zealand has for decades been known in Britain for our lamb and butter - everyday commodities - but they have now been overtaken in terms of media references by our wine.

In 1982, the then London-based Trade Commissioner Don Walker and I, in my role as inaugural CEO of the Wine Institute, arranged the first presentation of 47 wines from 14 wineries in a half-day tasting in the penthouse of New Zealand House. Our exports to Britain to June 30, 1982, were 106,677 litres, to the value of $253,491.

The most recent annual figures, to September 30, 2005, were 22 million litres, valued at $165 million.

For the 25th annual tasting held over two days in the Nursery Pavilion at Lord's cricket ground, there were 150 New Zealand wineries presenting 652 wines.

While those of us in the industry are proud of what we have achieved in Britain in the past 25 years, and while we are grateful to have as our High Commissioner in London such an ardent and knowledgeable patron of our wines, we are disturbed at the mean-spirited, penny-pinching attitude underlying the recent questioning of Hunt's expenditure (perfectly within his allocated budgets, by the way) on wine and functions.

What is it about the London post that generates this meanness of spirit, harking back to the mid-80s when short-sighted Treasury officials floated the notion of selling New Zealand House?

Why is it only London that ever comes into question? Never Paris, Rome, Washington, Canberra, Ottawa, or the other capitals of influence.

Is it because New Zealand House in London is the only diplomatic property asset under the control of the Treasury (all the others are overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)?

One of the unfortunate downsides of Treasury control was that, in the late 80s, a rent review was so severe that important New Zealand entities such as Air New Zealand, the Dairy Board and the Meat Board, not to mention the legendary Martini Terrace on the 16th floor, were priced out of continued occupation.

Even worse, the elegant and roomy ground floor ballroom, which would be so convenient for events such as our wine tastings, was leased to a Canadian brewery as a sports bar.

The sale of New Zealand House seems now firmly off the agenda, and the sooner the anomaly of its control by the Treasury is corrected by transfer to the ministry, the better.

Now 40 years old, the tall glass-clad building that dominates the corner of Haymarket and Pall Mall, just around the corner from Trafalgar Square, is undergoing refurbishment.

Ever since it opened in 1965, the design of New Zealand House has been the subject of controversy. It's certainly different from what surrounds it, and from other Commonwealth properties, such as Canada House in Trafalgar Square and Australia House in The Strand, both of which merge into their neighbourhoods.

But like it or lump it, you can't miss New Zealand House: tall, commanding, confident, different, saying something about New Zealanders.

Whatever we do, in London or elsewhere, let's not sell our country short by mean-spirited penny-pinching.

Let's spend whatever it takes to ensure that we reflect an image of a confident, unique, First World nation.

It need not cost an arm or a leg, and should help to bring us more tourists and high-quality immigrants - and help us in marketing the riches of our clean, green land.

* Terry Dunleavy was inaugural CEO of the Wine Institute of New Zealand (1976-91) and is editor of New Zealand WineGrower magazine.