Press Release – 17 March 2011 – For Immediate Release

New Zealand wineries set up their own business in the USA

In a first for the wine sector, a group of leading, family owned New Zealand wineries have established their own importing company in the rapidly growing United States market.

Carrick Wines, Forrest Estate, Lake Chalice Wines and Seifried Estate have joined forces to form a new company “Pacific Prime Wines” to import, market and sell their range of premium wines across the USA. It’s the first time a group of independent New Zealand wineries have created a joint venture that imports and sells their own wine in the United States.

The new business has employed its first sales Vice President in the market and will work directly with retail and restaurant trade, in addition to state wholesaler partnerships. It expects to grow sales to over 80,000 cases in the next five years.

Managing the business are three senior wine business professionals, Stu Devine, Paul Couldrey and Dave Nicholas. All have extensive international wine marketing and sales experience, with Mr Devine having been based in the USA for six years as the resident market manager for a major NZ winery.

Pacific Prime Wines director, Dave Nicholas says, “Creating Pacific Prime Wines USA is an innovative market move for these modern winemaking pioneers, as well as an important step in our wine industry’s global development. Premium wine from New Zealand is the fastest growing import category in the United States and has been for some time. Our wineries each have very extensive exporting experience, so taking control of their destiny in this hugely promising market is a natural step. Our major advantage is the ability to sell directly into retail and restaurants, instead of relying on a third party importer to represent our brands. ”

Steve Green, from Carrick Wines says “We welcome the opportunity to be part of Pacific Prime Wines, an innovative NZ venture where the US distribution company is owned by the participating wineries and are looking forward to increased penetration in the US market.”

Dr John Forrest (Forrest Wines) – “We have supplied wines into the US market for 15 years; but have invariably found problems in successful distribution. We believe PPW offers the best chance to sustainably establish our brands in this most difficult of markets.”

Phil Binnie of Lake Chalice Wines: “The USA is not an easy wine market to crack with multiple tiers and state regulations. We think the winning combination is the degree of control over our wines in the US, the calibre of our NZ winery partners, and the invaluable, hands-on experience that our management team provides.”

Anna Seifried from Seifried Estate comments “This is a huge opportunity to make an impact in what has typically been a difficult market. We are thrilled to be working with such an inspiring, high calibre group of proven wine brands and professionals, and look forward to making the United States one of our key export markets.”

These pioneering wineries continue to set the standard for the wine sector, leading the way into major global markets.

ends

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