The new reality

“The …industry is emerging from a period when the major challenge was to produce enough wine to meet the world demand, to one where the major challenge will be to sell the available wine in an increasingly competitive world market.”

These words were written about another wine industry just a decade ago. They could easily have been written about our own industry today.

To meet this challenge, both demand and supply-side initiatives are necessary. Marketing is more important to us than ever before. Equally, effective management of supply is fundamental. The New Zealand wine industry does not have a “wine lake”; that is not something that happens with one or two large harvests. However, the signs for the industry are clear and unmistakable.