Wine Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Wine Industry - Essay Example Among the new player is the New Zealand Wine Industry, even though it has a low base in 1980s at just about 4.5 million dollars in export, now it has exceeded it initial targets by 50%. The New Zealand Wine Industry was dominated by four major players that account for almost 80% of all exports and 16% is accounted from the 17 medium sized wineries. Almost all these wineries export a third of their production volume. One of this medium sized winery is the Coopers Creek (Case Study, 2001). Coopers Creek was established by Andrew and Cynthia Hendry in 1980. Andrew being a former worker in a wine company and Cynthia on pate making venture proved to be a right combination. The winery is located between the Huapai and Kumeu region in northwest Auckland that includes a four hectare vineyard. The company was formed with the partnership of its first winemaker, Randy Weaver and vintage and soon after the first label was introduced to the market (www.cooperscreek.com.nz/history.html). The company was arranged in a way that the winemaker, Andrew and the shareholders, made up mostly of grape growers, share a third of the company. He intentionally wanted the winemaker to be a part owner to have a more hands on approach in wine making at the same time joins in major decisions awaiting the company. The growers on the other hand wanted to be paid the highest price for its grape but at the same time as shareholders, they wanted to bargain for lower prices. That is why, as profits were generated, Andrew bought the share of the growers because it became difficult for them to play on both sides. Just after two years, the first Coopers Creek vintage was produced and soon after that the first label was introduced in the local market (Case Study, 2001) . After acquisition of additional vineyards and a new winemaker after Randy returned to the US, Kim Crawford the company continued to explore additional markets. It is their primary objective to grow the grapes where they grow best for best grapes are reflected in their wines. Coopers Creek was then considered to be one of the successful medium-sized winery of the decade and at the same time an 'Award for Excellence in Exporting' was received by the company in 1997. Now, at almost 20 years, the winery is still developing ways to improve its products with its new winemaker Simon Nunns. A steady increase in its production volume was observed in order to meet the local and international demand of its products (www.cooperscreek.com.nz/history.html). Business Background One of the initial strategies utilised by Hendrey was establishing collaboration between local competitors in the west Auckland area. It was during one of his visit in Australia that he observed the collaboration of some Australian wineries locally and he wanted to try the idea in New Zealand. The group regularly meets to decide their next move. They initially formed a joint advertising and promotion relationship with each other that they arranged special tours, special wines and music at each vineyard as part of their marketing strategy. They also collaborate on wine tasting when introducing new wines and labels. As the success of their collaboration on the marketing initiatives was felt, they also decided to collaborate also