'Family' wine act making bigger splash

Karen Fistonich of Villa Maria says a recent Melbourne tasting reached the kind of key audience the Family of Twelve aims for. Photo / Sarah Ivey

With 643 wineries in the country it's hard to get yourself noticed as an individual winemaker.

It's even harder to make your mark internationally when New Zealand is but a blip on the world wine stage.

Banding together into a "family" act has enabled 12 Kiwi wineries to get attention in markets as far afield as San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Dublin and Melbourne.

Based on the concept of 12 bottles of wine in a box, the Family of Twelve is made up of a dozen family-owned wineries covering all of New Zealand's premium wine regions.

Six are from the North Island and six from the South. The members are all primarily family firms, had an existing export trade and produce wines with a reputation for quality.

The group, begun in 2005, has found the family idea goes down well with consumers.

Karen Fistonich, chairwoman of Villa Maria, said the group had just returned from an annual tasting event for 250 at an upmarket Melbourne wine retailer.

The Family of Twelve had decided not to go this year to avoid overexposure, but the retailer asked them to return, she said. "So you're raising your profile with those people on a consistent basis."

The event reached the kind of key audience the group was aiming at. "I enjoy that tasting particularly because he's got such a knowledgeable clientele and you get great feedback from them."

The concept had proved so popular that Villa Maria's UK agents had put together a package tour with British luxury tourism operator Journeys of Distinction to visit the Family of Twelve wineries with other New Zealand sights, she said.

It was hard to measure whether the Family of Twelve directly led to more sales but it promoted the New Zealand story and enabled the winemakers to jointly put on otherwise costly events, she said.

Current chairman Clive Weston, of Nautilus Estate in Marlborough, said it was a valuable contributor to the total advertising and promotional mix.

With imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, an Australian group was starting up a similar concept, he said.

Because the winemakers came from all parts of the country the Family of Twelve was presenting a diverse range of wine styles.

Only two sauvignon blancs were among those tasted at the Melbourne event, for example, and wine drinkers were interested in the Kiwi pinot noirs, pinot gris and chardonnays, he said.

The group's focus in the next financial quarter will be hosting top sommeliers and wine retailers from the United States and Australia on a 10-day tour.

MIXED DOZEN

NORTH ISLAND
* Kumeu River
* Villa Maria Winery
* The Milton Vineyard
* Craggy Range
* Ata Rangi
* Palliser Estate

SOUTH ISLAND
* Neudorf Vineyards
* Nautilus Estate
* Lawson's Dry Hills
* Fromm Winery
* Pegasus Bay
* Felton Road