New Zealand wine industry gets government backing
02 June, 2010
By Drinks International News Desk
The New Zealand government is providing a “promotional package” to help wine growers sell their premium wines in North America, northern Europe and China as well as specific investment for activities such as the Rugby World Cup next year.
The main support will go to the US, China and northern Europe, excluding the UK which is New Zealand's number one export market. Europe is believed to be getting financial support to the tune of NZ$500,000. David Cox, who looks after Europe for NZWG, told Drinks International that the key countries/regions are: Scandinavia, Germany and the Benelux.
He said: "The aim will be to fast-track building a stronger New Zealand wine presence there. We will aim to augment our participation at ProWein 2011 and generally increase our brand building activities in these target markets."
New Zealand Winegrowers’ chief executive Philip Gregan said: “We have been working with government on this package of initiatives for some time and it is incredibly pleasing to have reached this point. The focus of the package on premium wines supports Winegrowers’ long-term strategy of producing quality wines and the ability to partner with Government enables us to strengthen our footprint in some really important markets.
