Drinksbiz Magazine – August September 2020

Page 12

COVER STORY – LEEFIELD STATION

Stories from the land A new winery and the launch of a captivating new campaign have positioned Leefield Station on an exciting road ahead…

CHRISTOPHER DAVID THOMPSON

IT’S BEEN quite the year already for Marisco Vineyards, owner of wine brands Leefield Station, The Ned and The Kings Series. The Marlborough company has opened the first stage of a major new winery at its Leefield Station vineyard and launched a new campaign for the unique brand, as well as grown domestic and export sales and brought in a harvest under strict COVID-19 regulations. Siobhan Wilson, General Manager Sales and Marketing for Marisco Vineyards, says while it was a challenging few months, everyone in the business rose to the occasion brilliantly. “Our winery and vineyard staff were amazing, and as the saying goes – in a crisis is where you see people’s true colours. We were blown away by how our teams pulled together.” She says despite everything that was going on, the 2020 harvest went incredibly well. “The weather was awesome, yield was on track and quality sensational – you couldn’t have asked for a better vintage.”

12 DRINKSBIZ AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2020

Consumers turn to The Ned While harvest required a lot of focus domestically, Marisco’s export and logistics teams were working hard to fulfil wine orders after a sudden increase in overseas demand for The Ned, particularly from the UK and Australia. “In markets like the UK, which is a big market for us anyway, pre-COVID we’d seen sales start to slow and we had

attributed this to the uncertainty around Brexit,” says Wilson. “But when COVID hit we suddenly saw a spike. Our key buyers described trading as being like the Christmas period, but without the planning. We were receiving orders and being asked if we could ship in the same week, which is unheard of normally. “I believe this is testament to the power of The Ned brand in markets like the UK – in a crisis people turn to trusted brands, their favourites that will help them get through the tough times – and this is what saw our sales increase.” Wilson says they saw similar patterns in New Zealand during lockdown with The Ned performing well in the limited grocery and online sales. “We again saw people turning to their trusted brands, and more so as we came out of lockdown and business went back to normal. While overall in the New Zealand market there was an increase in the sub-$10 segment The Ned shone through and has continued to sell – once again testament to the strength of our brand.”

“We have a unique proposition with Leefield Station as we are an operating farm and vineyard/winery all on the same property. This is something we wanted to celebrate and let consumers know about.”


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