Artistic touch to new wine launching during glut

The local wine industry is still dealing with the knock-on effects of a bumper grape crop last year, but that hasn’t stopped one of the country’s most famous artists from making his mark on the wine scene.

This week, Dick Frizzell has launched his new range of Frizzell Wines, at a time when the industry is still dealing with an oversupply in the market and a drop in domestic sales, thanks to a record grape harvest of 285,000 tonnes in 2008.

Marlborough winemakers are now focusing on controlling yields for the upcoming 2009 harvest, with the emphasis on quality over quantity in the region that produces 70% of the country’s wine.

That emphasis is one that is shared by Mr Frizzell, who tells NBR that the aim of his new range of wines is to provide the quality without being fiendishly expensive.

“It’s the sort of wine I would like to drink at a price I can afford. The quality goes hand in hand with the sense of exclusivity we are trying to create. We want the wine to be an intimate experience, and build everything around that.”

While he says he was aware of the oversupply in local wines when the idea first started to gain traction six months ago, he says it gave him the drive to ensure the new venture would succeed.

Starting a new business in the current economic climate is something many businessmen might think twice about, but Mr Frizzell, whose artistic works include the ubiquitous Mickey to Tiki Tu Meke series, says he didn’t have time for second thoughts.

“When we started seriously thinking about it, the recession wasn’t something that was high on our agenda. But then it all moved so quickly and took on a life of its own, we never had time to debate whether it was a good idea or not. I’m still a bit giddy over the speed of it.”

Mr Frizzell has been working with Hawke's Bay wine legend Rod McDonald on the three wines now available, and is looking to develop the range further in the future, with plans to produce a reserve once the new venture has become established.

But for now he is busy stretching some artistic muscles that have not been used in a while, designing all the labels and the company’s website and using his background in advertising to promote the wine.

“In this case, I’m the client, product and advertising agency rolled into one, which saves some costs. But I’m also the brand and it’s my name on the label, so I need to ensure I’ve got the best wine I can produce to back that up.”