Trinity Hill Wines started as an idea in 1987. Six years later a block of land in Gimblett Road was purchased with the aim of producing Hawke’s Bay wines of international standard. Today its one of the elite Top Ten New Zealand wineries and regularly receives critical acclaim for its wines.

CEO John Hancock has been promoting New Zealand wines internationally for more than 20 years and finds that it’s no more difficult to do that from Hawke’s Bay. The distance to the company’s main markets does however make it more expensive.

He believes the wine industry in the region shares the same concerns as winegrowers elsewhere in the country. “We are a high cost producing country and this makes it hard to compete with imports here and in our overseas markets. Therefore it’s important that the whole industry shows solidarity and does not succumb to the temptation to dumb down what we have.”

Hancock believes we can never compete on price and shouldn’t even try. “We have to compete with our across-the-board high quality and the uniqueness our climate gives us.”

But what about the ‘L’ word?

“Not surprisingly associates outside the wine industry view us as having a marvellously utopian lifestyle. The reality is we work exceptionally hard to make and promote our products in an exceptionally competitive environment for what most other industries would consider a very meagre return! However, we absolutely love what we do and it has to be that way.”


Article courtesy of NZBusiness magazine