Wine Marlborough-John Avery-NZ-UK Link Foundation Fellowship
1 July 2011
Wine Marlborough, Marlborough’s regional wine association, has worked together with Britain’s John Avery Master of Wine (MW) and the NZ-UK Link Foundation to promote professional development through this annual wine industry scholarship.
The inaugural scholar is Marcus Pickens, general manager of Wine Marlborough Ltd. Marcus has already travelled to the Uk to look at wine industry trends there.
The Fellowship
The objectives of the Scholarship are to introduce young wine industry professionals from the Marlborough region to industry partners in the UK and vice versa; to build and strengthen commercial links between Wine Marlborough and UK importers, distributors, and retailers; and generally to increase the mutual understanding of each country’s wine growers and marketers of the wine industry in both New Zealand and the UK .
A wine growing professional from Marlborough will be selected every two years to travel to the UK to study the wine business there for a period of four to six weeks. The NZ recipient will be hosted by industry personnel while in the UK with all airfares, internal travel, accommodation and approved living expenses covered by the scholarship, be funded by Wine Marlborough, and the Link Foundtaion.
In the intervening years, a wine industry professional from the UK will travel to Marlborough for a similar time to study that region’s wine industry. S/he will be hosted by members of Wine Marlborough and members of the wine industry, with support from the NZ-UK Link Foundation and John Avery (Avery's of Bristol). While in Marlborough they will be able to study first-hand the local viticultural methods, quality standards, uniqueness and export competitiveness of Marlborough.
Wine Marlborough
Marlborough’s wine name began in the UK, when the very first sauvignon blancs began receiving accolades at international competitions in the early 1980s. For nearly three decades, the UK has been one of this region’s strongest markets, and despite economic difficulties in recent years, is still one of the most important markets for NZ wine. While sauvignon blanc has always dominated UK sales, other Marlborough varieties are now beginning to gain traction with exciting growth in pinot noir and sparkling wine sales.