Winery counts on sheep to lure Japanese market

MARTY SHARPE/The Dominion Post
SEEING RED: 'Pinot' the sheep with Ichiyo Terauchi (left) and Mark Lim of Ohsawa Winery, which has just released Flying Sheep pinot noir.

If you want to sell New Zealand wines to the Japanese, it's best to use sheep in the sales pitch at least that's the thinking behind one of Hawke's Bay's newest wineries.

Ohsawa winery, which is Japanese-owned, has just released Flying Sheep pinot noir and Flying Mouton French for sheep sauvignon blanc.

Both depict a flying sheep on their label, a feature that winery owners hope will endear the wines to the Japanese market, where most bottles are destined.

Winery managing director Mark Lim said the French word for sheep was widely used in Japan so Japanese customers would easily recognise the name Mouton.

"The name comes from the early settlers of the area believing the cumulus clouds looked like their sheep. And we knew we had to use sheep in the label because when Japanese think of New Zealand, they think of sheep."

Ohsawa Winery is one of 34 vineyards taking part in next weekend's Harvest Hawke's Bay festival. It will use the two-day event to promote its first vintages.

Ohsawa will have a dyed-red sheep named "Pinot" on display at the Triangle Red tasting centre in Ngatarawa Rd.

Flying Mouton has been available in Hawke's Bay shops for the past month but Flying Sheep has its first outing at the festival.

The winery bought 35 hectares of undeveloped land west of Hastings in late 2005 and began bottling in October. It plans to release other varieties this year.

"The Japanese market is starting to realise New Zealand wine is very high quality," Mr Lim said.

"And we hope New Zealanders like our wine too. This weekend will be a good chance to gauge how much they like it."

Harvest Hawke's Bay event manager Carol-Ann Stubbs expected the festival to attract about 5500 people, with strong ticket sales so far.

"The current economic climate doesn't appear to be putting people off. Given the value of the tickets, this isn't surprising.

"People are still looking to have fun, they just don't want to break the bank. Harvest gives them this $15 gives you a lot."