Rod McDonald: Te Awanga Estate Owner on the lucrativeness of the US wine market

The US Wine Market may be becoming more lucrative than the one back home. 

The owner of Te Awanga Estate in Hawke’s Bay is looking to sell up his restaurant, vineyard, and cellar door and focus his efforts on exports.  

Owner Rod McDonald told Mike Hosking that they’ve got really exciting opportunities in the US, so they had to weigh up the hard work of the New Zealand hospo industry against what potentially lies ahead stateside. 

He said they have to allocate their resources where you think they’ll get the best return. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Interesting developments in the wine industry. Taiwanga restate this in
hawks By it's on the market because the owner wants
to concentrate on exporting to the US. So if you
fancy a restaurant, vineyard and cellar door, this could be
for you. The owner Rod McDonald's with us, Rod, morning, morning,
How are you well? Thank you? How much of this
is about the domestic hospo market being a bit hard
work versus you wanting to be in the US.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Look, you know, it's always going to be a combination
of both. We've got a really exciting opportunity in the US,
but it's capital hungary. So weighing up the opportunities between
operating the continuing to operate the vineyard, particularly in cellar door,
compared to what lies the head potentially in the US,
is what.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Lies ahead potentially in the US super exciting.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, it is. Look where we've recently got some listenings
in Costco. We're going to be in about one hundred
and sixteen stores come the next quarter of trading, and
we've got national distribution. But it's really early days for us,
so it just takes a lot of money to continue
to build and invest in that platform.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yes, it does having it. So you are you one
of those people who started out with you know, you
could look at your grapes out your window and you
could crush them yourself and think that's fantastic. You've moved
into be a sort of a mega entrepreneur. Are you
one of those sort of people?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah? I wouldn't say mega entrepreneur, but certainly labeling at
the kitchen table and getting out with a weed wacker
and dealing with you know, dealing with a vignyard on
a daily basis. That's where it all started for sure, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
So you want to lease back, though, don't you, because
you can't get into the US and expand if you
don't have any grapes, and if you sell your grapes,
you're sort of out of wine making, aren't you. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So there's a few different parts of the business. We
leased a couple of vineyards, and we work with growers
and they've all been incredibly supportive and a big part
of the journey to get to this point. So we'll
continue to do that. You know, a vinyard at Tiawonga
we planted with Merlow's son, Blanc Chadet and Sarah. It's
you know, most of what we're selling overseas as a
sauvinyon blanc and and not at the sort of super

(02:03):
premium price point that we grow out a tiawa. So
we're fully certified organic out there. That's a big part
of the story for us as well. But to get
some scale and build momentum in the US, you know,
sustainability is part of the story. And and Hawk's Bay
sauvignon blanc, believe it or not. So I think it's

(02:24):
it's a really exciting thing for hawks Bay and US.
But you've got to cut your cloth. You've got to
you've got to allocate your resources where you think they're
going to get your best return.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Exactly. Well, I wish you all the very best with it,
Rod Rod McDonald, who is the owner currently of Taiwanga
es state they make some very good wines. So for
range of ones, actually you get some of the sabs
and the high teens, and they make a very good
top end Surah. So best Sarah in the country comes
out of Hawks Bay. Of course. I think that I
can say that without any real dispute, can't

Speaker 2 (02:53):
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