A multi-billionaire businesswoman landed in Central Otago yesterday, saying she wants to get the region compared to Burgundy — the home of super premium wine.
Edmond de Rothschild group chief executive Baroness Ariane de Rothschild, who is chief executive of a family business that has $274 billion worth of assets under management, and direct links to the Rothschild banking dynasty, came to charm the locals and talk of big dreams for its Bannockburn vineyard, Akarua, which it bought in 2021.
Baroness de Rothschild said her first visit to New Zealand was well overdue.
The company began its New Zealand adventure more than 10 years ago with the establishment of their Rimapere winery, in Marlborough, and every year since she had said she needed to visit, Baroness de Rothschild said.
While they were establishing the sauvignon blanc winery, the company began investigating New Zealand pinot noir.
"The result was so outstanding that we really started looking for what we considered the best region in pinot noir in New Zealand. In Bannockburn we looked for at least three or four years to really see what we felt was an excellent terroir and were lucky enough that Akarua came up and we purchased it."
With nine estates spread over four continents, Edmond de Rothschild Heritage knew what it wanted and that it had found something special in Bannockburn.
"We know the global market for pinot noir is growing rapidly and Akarua is a key strategic vineyard for Edmond de Rothschild to expand this part of our collection."
The terroir (the natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate) and the quality of grapes in Bannockburn were exceptional, Baroness de Rothschild said.
However, those factors were just the beginning. She believed wine from the region had the potential to reach even greater heights and to be marketed in the super-premium sphere, traditionally filled by pinot noir from Burgundy.
Additionally they wanted to learn from, and work with, other wine growers in the area.
"In any business, not only wine, when your competitors do well it’s fantastic, because the goal is to get the whole region one notch up.
"We really have a total common alignment of interest to get this Central Otago — in particular Bannockburn — wine to be better known worldwide, get the quality out, get the customers to know the pinot noir from Bannockburn," Baroness de Rothschild said.
"I really look forward to working with all the wine makers around Akarua."
Edmond de Rothschild Heritage wines Bordeaux-based managing director Boris Breau had, along with his family, been in Queenstown for three months while overseeing work at Akarua.
The soil and climate at Akarua were on a par with the world’s best for pinot noir, and New Zealand’s biosecurity controls meant it was free from many of the diseases and insects that limited wine production around the world, he said.
"This country is one of the few remaining wine growing countries in the world where the grape phylloxera, an aphid-like pest, has not decimated vines to the point where they are all grown from grafts."
It would take about three years for Akarua to become registered as organic. Rimapere’s transition would be completed in 2025 and Akarua in 2026, Mr Breau said.
Akarua winery was started by former Dunedin mayor Sir Clifford Skeggs in 1996.
