Archive for year: 2014

Allan Scott Wines and Estates Limited have announced the appointment of Mitchell Gardiner as General Manager Sales to help continue the company’s growth strategy both internationally and locally.

A widely-experienced sales manager, Mr Gardiner joins Allan Scott Family Winemakers after 9 years as a senior sales manager with Toops Wholesale, a key subsidiary of the Foodstuffs North Island Co-Op Society Limited.

During his tenure at Toops, Mr Gardiner drove hospitality sales 450% to become the largest company category, while also achieving growth in otherwise declining markets and restructured regional liquor distribution.  Prior to this, Mr Gardiner made his mark with Hawkes Bay Liquor Ltd, initially managing Key Accounts and On Premise before being given responsibility for their Wholesale Division.

His appointment will allow Allan Scott Family Wines to continue a growth strategy which has been enhanced by record harvests for volume and quality during recent years.  “To achieve that strategy, the sales team requires additional experience, vision, skills and determination, with Mr Gardiner’s appointment reflecting all those attributes,” says Victoria Scott, director of marketing for Allan Scott Family Winemakers.

“Global prospects for Allan Scott Estate wines remain of high potential with good demand indicators, and it is important that we carefully capture such opportunities to ensure that market demand remains sustainable, and to add value to our carefully crafted varietals and continuing innovative blends meeting modern market norms.”

In addition, the domestic market remains very important to the company. While Allan Scott has a loyal and substantial following from those seeking consistently high quality wine, the market is now more demanding with some supply overhang including rising lower-value imported wines.

“Maintaining growth in our domestic market penetration and working with national distributors will be a key priority for Mr Gardiner,” says Ms Scott.

Allan Scott Family Winemakers was established in 1990, and is a leading local producer of quality wines. Along with the core range of Allan Scott Estate wines, there is a single vineyard selection of prestige wines, and a Methode Traditionelle range which includes five bubbles.

Mr Gardiner will commence his new role on 20th October 2014.

As the weather cools and the patter of rain on our windows becomes an almost daily occurrence, it’s easy to see why many of us favour a cosy night in, complete with a hearty meal and our favourite bottle of wine by the fire. At Allan Scott we know that winter nights in, need to be cherished and celebrated and what better way to do it than with a bottle of our delicious Allan Scott “Hounds” Marlborough Pinot Noir 2012.

Carried on a rich oak base with soft aromatics in dark cherry, ripe berry fruits and cocoa, the Allan Scott “Hounds” Marlborough Pinot Noir 2012 flows beautifully onto the palate creating a warming winter wine with plenty of life. Perfectly matched to seasonal favourites, roasts of red meat, slices of strong cheeses and sizzling cuts of wild game, the Allan Scott “Hounds” Marlborough Pinot Noir 2012 epitomises the versatility a great Pinot Noir presents while bringing its own eloquence to your heart-warming winter cuisine.

Allan Scott Winemaker Matthew Elrick, credits keen attention and hard work for the unique and impressive character of the Allan Scott “Hounds” Marlborough Pinot Noir 2012. “It’s a concerted team effort starting at pruning and every small step through to selection of only the best oak barrels of Pinot Noir from our  “Hounds” blocks.

“We want the Hounds Pinot Noir to reflect the best of both the vineyards and the vintage from which the grapes have come, 2012 was cooler than usual, this particularly suits Pinot Noir grapes because they can hang out longer allowing flavours to develop and strengthen without getting too high a sugar (hence alcohol) level,” he says.

Allan Scott “Hounds” Marlborough Pinot Noir 2012 (RRP $31) and the full range of Allan Scott Wines are available from Glengarry Wines and online at www.allanscott.com

A new Kiwi designed water filtration system which can eliminate wastewater could save New Zealand wineries thousands of dollars annually, has significant export potential for international wine producers and is already being championed by the local dairy industry.

The new waste management process created by Scott Biotechnologies and Allan Scott winemaker Matt Elrick, is designed to rapidly filter the winery’s waste fluids allowing the clean, odourless by product to be reused as irrigation for the vines.

Elrick says the new prototype was created to deal with the Allan Scott winery’s wastewater after growing frustration with traditional wastewater disposal methods, which were expensive, created ponding and associated issues.

He says wineries throughout New Zealand have already tried and failed to come up with a better system for dealing with waste-water at peak times, but many simply revert back to the simple septic tank system.

“With a traditional tank system wastewater settles in a tank, overflows into the next tank, settles there then overflows into the next tank. This means at harvest there often isn’t enough settling time so solids and nutrients tend to jump through the systems faster than the system needs to allow it to be treated, that means you end up with a pretty bad smell,” he says.
The new system which Elrick helped design, means wastewater will now be pumped through a spin separator which uses a cannon to create a centrifugal force and allow clean water to be ejected out of the top and sludge to be forced out of the bottom.

“The clear water goes direct to a discharge tank where it is further filtered and discharged via drip irrigation line onto the vineyard. The remaining sludge waste solids goes through a series of chambers where it can be easily scattered around the vineyard to release its nutrients,” he says.

Elrick believes the technology has significant potential for both wineries and other industries which produce wastewater – including the growing dairy industry.
It is capable of rapidly processing the waste product from winery’s entire harvest without any delay or loss of production efficiency.

“Excess waste production is a huge issues for New Zealand’s horticultural and agricultural industries. In addition to making us more environmentally friendly, this cost reduction technology will also make us more competitive internationally.” says Elrick.

“Essentially we are using our winery wash-downs to create a reusable resource, which is reducing the amount of water drawn from the bore to irrigate our vineyard,” he says. The introduction of the wastewater system is the latest in a series of environmental sustainability initiatives introduced by the winery designed to reduce their carbon footprint.

These eco-friendly strategies include recycling of cardboard and plastics as well as crushing grass for use in pathways and drives.