Accompanying N.Z. wine with their beef

Last week the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise office held their annual wine promotional event but this time they pushed the country`s beef, cheeses and seafood as well.

"It`s an opportunity for us to display our wines and for people to try them," said New Zealand trade commissioner Graeme Solloway.

He added that New Zealand wines were growing in appreciation around the world and this popularty is encouraging people to taste other New Zealand products.

While Korea is a small market for New Zealand wine exports compared to other markets, Solloway said that it is an important market nonetheless.

"It`s growing quite fast from a small base, as Koreans start to pick up and appreciate the quality of our wines," he said.



This year the trade office also held a seminar on New Zealand aromatic varieties, "which New Zealand makes some world-leading wine styles but these are not yet well known to Korean wine consumers."

More than 100 wines where exhibited from 25 New Zealand wineries but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

There are more than 500 wineries in New Zealand and as those wineries explore new markets more New Zealand wines will make it onto Korean shelves.

The financial crisis affected sales of wine here, not only for New Zealand but for wine producers generally.

"Korean wine consumption has dropped a little this year, which means it`s a very competitive market," he said. "Our wine distributors and retailers have quite a lot of stock on hand so it`s not easy to sell."

Solloway did say that there was a light at the end of the bottle, sales of New Zealand wines "were very good" during the Chuseok period and hopes to see that growth continue again.

"We expect 2010 to be a good year and a great opportunity to bring some more New Zealand labels for people to try."

But wine is not New Zealand`s most important seller. Both Solloway and John Hundleby, market manager for Meat and Wool New Zealand, said that in the Korean market, beef is more important than wine in relative terms.

Hundleby said that their beef "volume is down a little bit year-on-year but Korea remains our second-biggest market by volume."

"At our beef events we always make sure we have New Zealand wine as part of it, but this time it`s the reverse, but New Zealand wine and beef go together like hand and glove," Hundleby said.

(yoav@heraldm.com)









By Yoav Cerralbo