Bron's trip so far..

From Auckland to San Fran airport, I jumped straight into a hire car ready to drive up to the Napa Valley and was sitting in the passenger seat.. ouch left hand drive, forgot about that!

An hour later I was sitting on Rob Mondavi's porch, in one piece sharing a bottle of Man o' War.

Had a wonderful few days touring the Napa Valley being chaperoned by one of the Napa's finest, visiting many fine wine stores, retail outlets and restaurants. There is a good presence of New Zealand wine in stores, the majority being Sauvignon Blanc, then Pinot Noir and small amount of Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Merlot. Lots of Napa Chardonnay, lots and lots!
Wholefoods was an amazing store, its a very high end organic food and wine store here in the US and has the most incredible collection of cheeses, meats and of course wine! I met Geoff, the fine wine manager who knew more fabulous facts about New Zealand than I did! He had me giggling for about 30 minutes.

Bouchon - Wow what a wonderful French restaurant, I wanted something light and ordered the french onion soup, Rob looked at me in surprise and muttered ' light..' and I realised soon why, it was incredible rich and full of cheese and bread and onions! Nothing a large glass of Napa Valley Chardonnay couldn't help digest!

Met up with the Folio team and it was interesting to hear their insight into where the market is at this time. Later I had the opportunity to meet Mary and Andy Lytle and their little bundle of joy Jasper. Andy has been in the wine industry most of his life so it was fascinating to hear his very reassuring thoughts on the state of the US wine industry.
We visited 'Mustards' an iconic restaurant here in the Napa and enjoyed ribs and a bottle of Jayson Woodbridges famous Napa Valley Cabernet Hundred Acre and a bottle of Mondavi's Spellbound Petit Syrah.

I loved my visit to the Napa Valley, it is very Grande, the wineries are very Grande, nothing like I have seen before - a stunning and beautiful place!
From the Napa to LA,
I was lucky enough to have the famous Jim (Hollywood) Malloy as my partner in crime in LA. We visited countless restaurants and fine wine stores including two stand outs.

- Wine House Fine Wine, an institution in LA. We met JIm Knight and tasted through the entire Man O' War range. This was by far the largest wine store I have encountered yet in the US, rows and rows of wine from all over the world.
- Wally's Fine Wine, this fine wine store perfectly rap each bottle of wine purchased and standing outside you see limo after limo pull up and take off.

LA to Montreal for the NZ Wine show.

Visited the SAQ to get a permit for our wine, as it was wrestled off me by customs!
Met the ever charming Jean-Charles Thiry and Jack Cohen from UVAS Fine Wine and was shown around Montreal visiting Le Gourmand an amazing restaurant in Pointe-Clair (Quebec) where i was lucky enough to have lunch with Jean-Charles and Micheal the owner/chef at Le Gourmand.

Montreal to Toronto - For the NZ Wine Show, a whirl wind trip where I met Lenny and the boys from BW Wines and Nick Hirons from The Merchant Vintner and later was lead astray by the likes of Sue and Paula and the rest of the crew from the NZ wine Show and missed my flight to New york in the morning! Phew I need to pick up my game. All in all the NZ Wine Shows were a hit, incredibly successful, so congratulations to Robert Ketchin (right).

New York, oh New York.. this City is just amazing..

I had the most incredible time meeting Pierre and Nicolas at Soho House, Craig and the sommelier team from Public, Ken from Sheree Lehmann and Diane from the famous Kiwi and Australian Nelson Blue Restaurant and Bar. I also caught up with the lovely Dana Johanson from New Zealand Trade and Enterprises for coffee and an insight into the NYC market and what was happening in the industry.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Anthony from Noble House Wine and Sheila from Martin Scott, a well renoun wine distributor in NYC.

I also had time to shop.. sight see.. shop... research the NY night scene... and did I mention shop?

NYC excites me and the markets response to Man o' War wines was incredible.. bring on August!

NYC to Vancouver - Just a day in Vancouver with a meeting with Darryl and Richard from Authentic Wine and Spirits, who walked the NZ Wine Show with me and gave me an insight into Vancouver and the BC Wine Market. Every Province in Canada has different Alcohol laws, its like dealing with a new country - a bit like the US and gets very confusing!

I also met some other great distributors Bob Guinn from TGIC Fine Wine Importers and Distributors (US and Canada) and Paul Martin (Peacock and Martin) a distributor based in BC, both lovely men of which I shared fish and chips with on the Vancouver water front.. just stunning!

And here I am in St Helena in the Napa Valley, the sun is shining and I am sitting on my bed typing this and having a glass of Napa Valley Chardonnay!

Bye for now..

Bronny

Man O' War on its way to Southampton

Man O’ War has left the “Rock of Gibraltar” and is heading for Southampton (where we are going to catch up with Stokes Fine Wines in Hampshire) en route to the Baltic. We are running along in a sturdy 40 knots and the rolling Atlantic swell off the coast of Spain. In this patch of ocean, a few miles offshore between the port of Cadiz and the western end of the Strait of Gibraltar, the supremacy of the Royal Navy was stamped indelibly on the history of the 19th century. When during a single terrible afternoon in October 1805, twenty-seven Man O’ War sailing ships commanded by Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson annihilated a combined French and Spanish fleet of thirty-three ships-of-the-line under the French Admiral Pierre Villeneuve. The nearest map reference, a remote coastal bay called Trafalgar, was to give the battle its name. Much like Man O’ War Bay gives it name to our vineyards and wine. In honour of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar we have decided to name the latest addition to our black label range, a spectacular 2009 Viognier, “Victory” after Nelson’s flagship the H.M.S Victory. B

“The Rock” of Gibraltar

Man O’ War is currently sailing from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea. We hope to visit various friends along the way. We are currently anchored off “The Rock” of Gibraltar which is at the same latitude as “The Rock” of Waiheke Island. Tomorrow we sail past Cape Trafalgar the site of the most comprehensive naval victory of all time on our way to Southampton. We might need to name a wine in recognition of such an auspicious event! B

The Far East

Arrived to the rain and heat in Hong Kong , amazing smells everywhere for a first timer here, I am pleased to be tall. Such an interesting place. Checked out the local wine retail scene, very impressed with Ponti (www.ponti-fwc.com), Olivers and 360 (www.threesixtyhk.com). We need something like this at home! Very sophisticated wine market here.

Had a great tour around Tsim Sha Tsui and dinner with Vanessa from At Style wine importers in a traditional Chinese restaurant, where I tried ducks feet, cheek of snapper and goose, couldn’t quite brave the chicken feet.
Every night you can see a light & music show from 8pm from Tsim Shar Tsui looking back to Hong Kong Island.

Met some other great wine distributors and Eddie McDougall from the Independent Wine Centre, learnt a lot about this market. Excited about the opportunities for us here. Caught up with Travis & Natasha Brown who are Australians living here both working in hospitality so great to learn more about the market and what is happening here. We went to Lan Kwai Fong the expat hang out. Did I mention anything about the Super 14 Finals... never.

Caught the ferry to Macau, a fascinating place. To me a good combination of Hong Kong and somewhere in the middle of Europe. You can still see the influence of the Portuguese here. We have representation here with TH Fine Wines, www.thfinewines.com. We have had meetings with MGM and the City of Dreams complex, Dreadnought Syrah on the opening list of City of Dreams. It opens next Monday, they complex in the final stages with 6000 staff members in training still. It will be wonderful to see it again open.

Off to see some more complexes today, and then leave on Sunday for Shanghai. Hopefully without losing too much money at any of the Casinos here!
Until the next time. Sara

From Madrid to Hong Kong

Ola

Quick trip to Madrid on Wednesday to meet with Cesar Rodenas from Winetipodes to talk through some options for Spain with them.

It was 34*C and beautiful weather. We saw some amazing places including the Silken Puerta America Hotel (pictures), which as a very uber-cool restaurant & bar.

We had lunch at an amazing little restaurant, Edulis, it reminded me of French Cafe with only 6 tables. Luca the owner, chef, waiter and someillier all in one, looked after us so very well and the food was amazing. If your in Madrid, you must go www.edulisrestaurante.com and after July you should be able to find Man O' War there as well as around Spain in special outlets.

Back to London, England where the sun and warmth finally arrived just as I was leaving. There some very exciting developments happening here, more will be revealed soon.

Arrived in Hong Kong this afternoon to the rain (again), looking forward to the next exciting adventure. Will keep you posted...

Sara

Duncan's winery update

We have just finished pressing the last of our reds on Monday and the barrels are all stacked away, it’s the last week with all the workers here so we are glorified cleaners at the moment.

I’m ready to finish the Dreadnought this week for bottling at the winery in late June.
The Man O' War Sauvignon Blanc 09 and Man O' War Pinot Gris 09 are finished blends and I will start stabilising them for bottling in the spring.

Exciting times.
Duncan

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