What's in a name? $14 million

By SIMON HENDERY

Winemaker Kim Crawford and his wife Erica have sold their popular Kim Crawford brand name to a Canadian wine company for $14.8 million.

The sale is for the Kim Crawford name only, and does not include any vineyards, land or winemaking facilities.

Over the past seven years the Crawfords have built their businesses mainly as a "virtual" operation buying grapes and having the wine produced at other wineries.

Kim Crawford has grown to become the country's 10th biggest wine export brand and the sixth biggest selling New Zealand label in the domestic market.

It has been bought by Ontario-based Vincor International, North America's fourth largest wine production and marketing company.

Under the deal, the Crawfords will continue to manage the company for at least five years.

On top of the $14.8 million sale price, $2 million of which will be paid in Vincor shares, the Crawfords will be paid a performance-based bonus of at least $3.2 million in 2008.

Erica Crawford, who has spearheaded the company's sales and marketing strategy, said Vincor wanted her and Kim to continue building on the brand's reputation.

She said it was "truly satisfying" to have developed a New Zealand brand to a point where it attracted an overseas buyer.

Vincor subsidiary RH Phillips-Hogue has distributed Kim Crawford wines in the US for several years, and Erica Crawford said the sale would enable the company to boost export sales around the world through Vincor's international distribution network.

Kim Crawford studied microbiology and botany at Massey University and winemaking in Australia.

He was winemaker for Coopers Creek at Kumeu until 1996.