Grape growers desperately seeking buyers

Nelson grape growers without contracts to sell their crops have been contacting wineries, desperately seeking buyers.

Kahurangi Estate winery has received calls at the rate of two a week for the past six weeks from uncontracted growers in the Nelson region, as well as email inquiries from brokers saying they have crops available from Marlborough.

However, winery office manager Lynn Mabon said they already had contracts with eight growers and would be full to capacity.

She said they had therefore had to turn offers down.

This year's grape harvest has begun in Nelson, and yesterday Kahurangi took 20 tonnes of sauvignon blanc grapes grown at Milcrest Estate in Hope.

Milcrest grower Terry Milton, a former Nelson detective, said he had contacted 75 wineries over the last year until he secured his Kahurangi contract.

"It's certainly a relief, I would not want to go on the spot market this year. It's nice to have the contract and peace of mind," Mr Milton said.

He said it was also good to have the harvest "off the vines before it rains".

New Zealand Winegrowers advised growers early in the season to lower vineyard yields and focus on quality in a challenging year, due to the global recession.

Kahurangi will process 5060 tonnes of grapes by the end of April.

Winemaker Neil Todd said they had not had to reduce their crop because frost had knocked back the fruit naturally.

He said: "This year's vintage is a follow-up to a huge year last year, so we will get to see whether some of the recommendations from NZ Winegrowers to wineries and growers, predominantly in Marlborough, have been followed.

"There is still a lot of 2008 wine out there in tanks or about to be bottled, mainly in Marlborough."

That wine could be dumped on the market.

"Everyone is in for tough times shortly so having established overseas customers is a big thing," he said.

Kahurangi has established markets over 10 years, and its owners, Greg and Amanda Day, are at the ProWein international wine trade fair in Germany to find new markets in Europe and have discussions with their British agents.

They also export to Hong King, the United States, Canada, Sweden and Singapore.

Mrs Mabon said the domestic market was still okay, but people were buying their wine more from supermarkets than liquor outlets.