LIWF 09

Kia Ora from London, England!

The 2009 London International Wine Fair

is over, we had amazing interest in

Man O’ War, the wines and what we

are all about.

Over the course of the 3 days, we scanned over 300 people (hopefully not

brainwashing them), making some amazing new friends and learnt a lot about the markets in UK, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Ireland, South Africa and even Canada. Many were from great retail outlets like Oddbins and Majestic, smaller independents like Thos Peatling Fine Wines and the Wig & Mitre group. We had a great catch up with Sam from Wine Thief, a brilliant online NZ wine store, who placed our first order with Ironclad. To be served at a function at New Zealand house at the end of May. Quite a few hotels came through and some buyers from British Airways, so a great way to meet the full spectrum of every type of establishment selling wine.

We were between Gary & Martin from Babich and Neil who was on the NZ Winegrowers stand showing great wines from Maven, Archangel and Judge Rock, and a great help at introducing Man O’ War to many punters at the show. Thank you Neil (on the left sans hat)!

The Man O’ War Sauvignon Blanc, Valhalla Chardonnay, Man O’ War Merlot Cabernet Franc, Dreadnought Syrah and Ironclad were huge hits! As was the new Man O’ War DVD, so many want to now visit Waiheke Island and New Zealand.

The team at NZ Winegrowers were brilliant, the stand looked amazing and many friends from other ‘large companies’ commented that the New Zealand stand was one of the busiest at the show.

There were some spectacular stands; favourites include McGuigan who had planted vines, who would have thought in the middle of London, England!

This week I am catching up with some potential distributors in UK and Spain, off to Madrid for a day on Wednesday, (so foreign for us Kiwis), and then heading to Hong Kong for the second leg of the trip. It’s been amazing to be in London, England. It astonishes me how far the New Zealand Wine industry has come, when you see 3 bays of New Zealand wine in Harrods. They really do love us over here. Yesterday an article came out that NZ bucks the trend in the UK market and is in growth and at a higher price point! (see blog below)

Until next time,
Sara