Wine Marlborough-NZ-UK Link Foundation Fellowship
18 November 2009
Wine Marlborough, Marlborough’s regional wine association, is working together with Britain’s John Avery Master of Wine (MW) and the NZ-UK Link Foundation to promote professional development through an annual wine industry scholarship, together with the region and its wines.
The Fellowship
Details are still being developed. However, the proposed 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 mutual understanding of the wine industry in both New Zealand and the UK by each country’s wine growers and marketers.
A wine growing professional from Marlborough 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, which will be funded by Wine Marlborough.
In the intervening years, it is intended that a wine industry professional from the UK will come to Marlborough for a similar time to study this 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. While in the province they will be able to study first-hand the local viticultural methods, quality standards, uniqueness and export competitiveness of Marlborough.
It is hoped that the first scholarship will be awarded in 2010.
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.