Wineries seek tourist focus

By Karyn Scherer

Auckland's wine industry has been warned it risks missing out on lucrative tourist dollars during the America's Cup because of a lack of organised tours.

At a function to launch a regional marketing group at Waimauku's Matua Valley Wines yesterday, Tourism Auckland chief executive Lance Bickford described wine tourism as "the missing link" in what Auckland had to offer.

He also broke the bad news to the 19 wineries present that few New Zealanders seemed to realise they even existed.

"I hate to say this, but [if you asked people to name New Zealand's wine regions] they probably wouldn't say Auckland, which is a shame, as it's the largest wine region."

His message to tour operators that the market was "completely untapped" and needed to be addressed as soon as possible met little resistance from the industry, which admits tourists are staying away in droves.

But tourism chiefs acknowledge that the new marketing group, Winemakers of Auckland, is an important first step in addressing the problem.

The group, which includes wineries from the Bombay Hills to Albany, replaces a long-standing association of West Auckland wineries. Its aim is to convince Aucklanders, as well as the rest of New Zealand and the rest of the world, that the region's booming wineries are worth visiting.

The move comes amid a growing international thirst for wine-related tourism. In Australia, the spin-off from tourists wanting to visit wineries is now estimated to be worth more than $500 million a year.

To encourage more visitors to their vineyards, the Auckland group has produced a wine trail guide, which will be available at wineries and visitor centres. Numbered signs on winery gates will correspond with the guide.

It has also launched a logo, which it hopes restaurants will use to highlight Auckland wines on their wine lists.

Other initiatives include courses for wine waiters, regular open days, and better highway signs.

The group intends to promote Auckland as the "taste of New Zealand," given that many Auckland wineries also buy in grapes from Hawkes Bay, Marlborough and Gisborne.

Spokeswoman Megan Burgess acknowledged the industry also needed to improve its staff and public facilities. However, with many wineries now offering tours, barbecues, restaurants and petanque, the perception that Auckland wineries were too busy making wine to cater for visitors was wrong, she said.

She also took a swipe at local government, citing the problems Henderson winery West Brook was having in establishing a cafe at its new site in Waimauku.

"Wine tourism is big business in most other regions and it should be in Auckland, too."

The group does not yet include any Waiheke Island or Matakana wineries, but chairman Tony Soljan said it was open to new members.

"We're not holding it back from anybody. We're just starting."