Shock at demise of 'wine country'

Hawke's Bay brabding expert Kim Wicksteed said he was sorry to see the demise of the Hawke's Bay Wine Country brand. Photo/File

The demise of Hawke's Bay Wine Country as a logo for the region "is a bit strange" says Sir George Fistonich, founder and owner of Villa Maria, a major investor in the Hawke's Bay wine industry.

He said Hawke's Bay was "a very interesting place", but lacked profile.

"It's got great restaurants, fishing. Everything," he said.

"Aucklanders tend to think of Marlborough because of sauvignon blanc, but when you think about Hawke's Bay it has an enormous amount to offer.

"The wine industry is great for tourism. When you look at the Barossa, Hunter, Yarra, and Napa valleys, it's all about wine tourism.

"Wine appeals to a great cross section of people of all ages who have the ability to travel. People go to France's Bordeaux just to see the wine industry so letting a logo like Hawke's Bay Wine Country go doesn't make a lot of sense. I can't see any logic in dropping it."

Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas said Wine Country was always a marketing tagline.

"Hawke's Bay Wine Country Association was the organisation and it merged with the Venture Hawke's Bay Tourism team to form Hawke's Bay Tourism," she said.

"I guess it evolved into just being 'Hawke's Bay'. People still use Hawke's Bay Wine Country and that's fine as well, but all of our Hawke's Bay Tourism work uses the 'Get Me To Hawke's Bay' tagline."

Former Saatchi and Saatchi CEO and Hawke's Bay-based branding guru Kim Wicksteed said it was "a great shame" Wine Country had been dropped.

"From an economic development point of view we definitely need to carve out something we can be famous for," he said. "Hawke's Bay should stand for something and then market that difference.

"I was really sorry to see Wine Country go. To me it was an inspired opportunity to claim ownership of something that is different.

"A number of regions around New Zealand were after that branding and when Hawke's Bay created that coup it was widely applauded as a smart thing to do. Tell me a wine country in the world that isn't famous?"

But the brand is not extinct. It is emblazoned on the western side of the Hawke's Bay Airport terminal.

"I'm very pleased it's still at the airport. That gladdens my heart," Mr Wicksteed said.

Hawke's Bay Airport CEO Nick Story said the sign had been in place since the terminal was redeveloped in 2003 and "and we do plan to refresh it".

He said if the sign no longer reflected the positioning statement for the region it may need to be changed.