Bluenote's contributor Briar McCormack takes a look at  'that worldly beer from Kingsland,' Auckland. That’s the concept behind Urbanaut Brewing Company - and it’s one hitting the mark with craft-beer enthusiasts.

When directors Thomas Rowe, Simon Watson and Bruce Turner embarked on their craft-beer dream they wanted to celebrate big cities around the world and use them as inspiration for the beers they brewed.

“We started with Kingsland Pilsner as our flagship beer, next came Brixton Pale Ale - paying homage to the home of pale ale,” says head brewer Turner.

" “[Craft beer] will continue to see growth but brewers need to be smart." John Bennett, General Manager for Central Region, ANZ NZ.

“We have Gastown Red IPA, inspired by Vancouver, Williamsburg IPA inspired by New York. Each of these cities has a place in our heart or a story behind the beer.”

Urbanaut are certainly in a growth industry: When the brewery opened earlier this year it joined a thriving, but increasingly crowded, craft beer industry in New Zealand.

The latest ANZ Craft Beer Industry Insights Report showed in 2016 growth was down from 28 percent to 22 per cent by volume and 39 per cent by value down to 32 per cent.

There are 194 craft beer breweries producing more than 1600 unique beers and small breweries accounted for 5.8 per cent of total beer consumed by volume – up from 4.9 per cent in 2015.

The question is when will the market reach saturation and how will it sustain its difference, the key marketing edge?

At Urbanaut, the founders were clear from the start on the business strategy. They thought hard about where they wanted to set up, how they were going to brand their product and what markets they were looking to target.

Producing beer for the general New Zealand market was important but the main goal was to sell to people in their inner-city Auckland neighbourhood.

“Engaging with our customers is really important so we talk to them about the philosophy behind our beer, how we make it and the merits . . .

Continue to read the full article here

| An ANZ Bluenote release  ||  August 21,  2017   |||

Two prominent New Zealand wineries have been acquired by a newly-established fine wine company co-founded by the man who launched Craggy Range and a US-based wildlife conservationist.

Pyramid Valley Vineyards in Waikari, North Canterbury, and Lowburn Ferry Wines, Central Otago, have both become the first purchases of Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates Limited Partnership (ANZFWE) – a new venture between Brian Sheth, sole director of US-based Sangreal Wines LLC, and Steve Smith MW, sole director of LandbaseWineNZ Ltd.

Mr Sheth is an investor and wildlife conservationist from Austin, Texas, while Steve Smith, is well-known for having led the development of Craggy Range, based in Hawkes Bay and Martinborough, having co-founded the brand with owner Terry Peabody in 1998.

Pyramid Valley Wines is one of the frontrunners of New Zealand’s growing biodynamic movement, founded by Claudia Weersing and her husband Mike in 2000. Their 2.2 hectare biodynamic vineyard is planted with four separate blocks of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with the aim of replicating the Burgundian model, which produces four wines; Earth Smoke Pinot Noir, Angel Flower Pinot Noir, Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay and Field of Fire Chardonnay.

It is a further sign of the growing confidence in the winemaking region of North Canterbury, which encompasses the Waipara and Waitaki Valley, located on the south island north of Christchurch. The region accounts for just 1,419 hectares of vineyards and is home to dozens of boutique producers who together produce just 3% of New Zealand’s annual production.

Lowburn Ferry meanwhile, based in Central Otago, was founded by Roger and Jean Gibson in 2000 with a focus on Pinot Noir. Jean holds a degree in Horticultural Science while Roger, who holds a Masters degree in Applied Science, also works part-time as a tutor in the viticulture/horticulture department of the Otago Polytechnic, specialising in soils and plant science. The couple’s wines are made under the direction of chief winemaker Peter Bartle.

“We are delighted that the Gibsons will remain living on this great Central Otago Pinot Noir vineyard as we create new vineyards and establish a winery on the property and have access to Roger’s science and natural ecology background on our estates,” said Smith.

ANZFWE has also secured the purchase of a small piece of land in the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District in Hawke’s Bay.

Leading ANZFWE as its chief executive will be Michael Henley, who has spent the past five years as CEO of Hawke’s Bay winery Trinity Hill.

“It will simply be fantastic to have Mike on board as a partner and to work alongside him again following the almost 10 years we spent together at Craggy Range,” added Smith.

The sale of the two wineries are subject to the approval of the New Zealand Government’s Overseas Investment Office, with each business continuing to operate under the direction of their existing owners until this process is completed.

| A The DrinksBusiness release  ||  August 16,  2017   |||

 Wellington Drive announces exclusive agreement with Alaska Refrigeration for the sales and distribution of its SCS Connect system in Vietnam.

Alaska Refrigeration www.alaska.vn is a refrigeration equipment manufacturer and distributor based in Vietnam, supplying a wide range of appliances for domestic and commercial applications.

Wellington’s CEO, Greg Allen said; "The agreement with Alaska is another indication of the increasing importance of Wellington’s brand and its SCS solutions in the Asia Pacific market. As the profile of SCS has grown with large global soft drink and beverage brands we are seeing increasing opportunities in new countries across the broader food and beverage market. This agreement with Alaska is consistent with our regional partnership model and utilises Alaska’s local knowledge and technical resources to service Vietnamese customers and support our mutual regional growth plans."

Commercial refrigeration systems fitted with Wellington Drive’s SCS Connect refrigeration controller already lead the way in Smarter Cooler technology. Wellington’s SCS platform and Smarter Cooler tool-set provides the commercial refrigeration market with fleet management systems and the data needed to improve the effectiveness of cooler fleets. They offer a beacon management platform and other location based digital marketing technologies to engage and interact with consumers at their point of purchase in front of the cooler.

| A WDT release  ||  August 14,  2017   |||

Yusen Logistics (Australia) Pty. Ltd., has commenced ocean and air freight forwarding operations to and from New Zealand servicing our global network and partners. We initially commenced in late 2016 servicing business customers to and from Australia and now offer global coverage that includes sophisticated logistics services across the entire supply chain.

In March 2016, we acquired Hitech Asia Pacific, a company that owned bases in Australia and New Zealand and focused on the transportation of sensitive and specialty projects. This marked our first step into New Zealand’s domestic logistics market. The expansion with these services has therefore enabled us to provide our New Zealand customers with a supply chain logistics service that now also caters and utilizes our global network.

Our new facility site is located near Auckland Airport and offers a full range of integrated supply chain solutions, including air and ocean freight services, land transportation, customs clearance and contract logistics and transport services including sensitive freight capabilities. Ocean freight forwarding is mostly to and from the Port of Auckland, which is New Zealand’s primary port; though we have coverage with all New Zealand Ports, Air freight forwarding also takes place to and from the country’s major airports, including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch Airports. At the same time, we have established logistics facilities that will enable us to provide contract logistics services suited to our customers’ needs.

Establishing our own operations in New Zealand was ultimately essential to increase our global network and office coverage. Our aim was increase our in-market customer contact with New Zealand customers and provide them with not only various global tradelanes but also various specialty industries like Retail, Healthcare, Automotive, Technology, Aerospace to name a few key business verticals.

We are very excited with our future in New Zealand and will continue to look to enhance our array of services to compliment the Yusen Logistics global network.

| A Yusen Logistics release  ||  August 7,  2017   |||

National Party Paralysed by non-productive but media-friendly anti water exports pressure groups

 From MSCNewsWire's European Correspondent August 7 2017 -  Fresh water is New Zealand’s most promising new primary export yet the more extravagant become the prospects for development, the more intense the pressure to vapourise the business from powerfully placed ideological pressure groups.

In recent months attempts to staunch the packaged water business has U-turned away from a generalised argument against the plastic (i.e petroleum-derived) containers to a much broader-gauge argument to the effect that pumping out drinking water is undermining the very geological base on which the nation itself rests.

This notion is quite literally allowed to float un-contradicted.

A reason is that the relevant lobby New Zealand Water association is reluctant to buy into the issue.

Privately, officials will talk about the scaremongering centred on the emptying out of the subterranean aquifers.

They point out simply enough that the supply of water remains constant and that water merely changes its form on its way to finding its own level again .

Steam, rain, snow, ice being just some of them.

However, the New Zealand Water association is mainly comprised of municipal water treatment officials and their suppliers.

So there is an understandable reluctance to buy into the ideological and thus frenzied fresh water exports debate.

This is correctly viewed by New Zealand Water industry group, which is a top-tier lobby, as a lose-lose proposition from its point of view.

There are now strong indications internationally that fresh water exports offer the same economic opportunities to New Zealand now as did the wine sector a generation or so ago.

Sales of bottled water in Europe have now substantially overtaken sales of bottled flavoured sodas, of the type now so actively despised by New Zealand educationalists, among others.

The other trend is the way in which the bottled water sector has imitated the wine sector in that provincial and family-owned bottled water marques have begun to bite deeply into the established brands.

This means that Nestle and Danone, the two dominant bottlers, have had to reconfigure their marketing around the threat of these niche, and personalised premium brands.

All this is much more than abstract state of affairs for New Zealand.

It means that all the French multinationals involved in packaged potable water are intent on diving headlong into Asia.

As these companies seek scale and market share in Asia they are much assisted by France’s merchant marine which is customising its freight capacity to take advantage of this new highly absorbent market.

This will be a big export setback in the region.for New Zealand.

Much greater than is widely understood.

The reason is that the European potable water will be bundled into much wider primary offerings just because firms such as Danone and Nestle are also the world leaders in, for example, dairy products.

Dairy products move in and out of various categories of surplus.

Fresh water in clear contrast enjoys a much more constant level of demand.

| From This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ||  Monday 7 August,  2017   |||

 MODESTO, Calif., Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- E. & J. Gallo Winery (Gallo) announced today that it has been awarded the exclusive rights to distribute New Zealand's Saint Clair Family Estate wines in the United States, effective immediately.

Known for producing some of the best Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand's Marlborough region, Saint Clair Family Estate is the latest addition to Gallo's premium import portfolio. "Saint Clair Family Estate is well-known around the world and we are excited to introduce this award-winning Sauvignon Blanc to American consumers," said Roger Nabedian, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Gallo's Premium Wine Division.

Owners Neal and Judy Ibbotson first planted vines in 1978, and were one of the early family pioneers to the Marlborough wine industry. Today, Saint Clair Family Estate owns fifteen vineyards located throughout the Wairau, Awatere, and Omaka Valleys of Marlborough, as well as Hawkes Bay. This allows the winery to specialize its plantings by grape variety in the sub-regions that provide the most suitable terroir for each.

"Saint Clair Family Estate is thrilled to have entered into a partnership with E. & J. Gallo Winery as the exclusive national distributor for the Saint Clair brand in the USA," said founder Neal Ibbotson. He added, "We share many of the same values – family, passion and quality – and the move is an exciting opportunity for us to further develop our brand in the USA market."

The Saint Clair name originated from the vineyard property, first settled by the Sinclair family. Pioneer James Sinclair built one of the first homes in Blenheim and was closely associated with the early development of the town. Over time the name of the property reverted to the original Saint Clair.

The Saint Clair Family Estate Sauvignon Blanc will retail for $28. While the wine is already available in select states, the national roll-out is scheduled for Q1 2018.

About E. & J. Gallo WineryFounded by brothers Ernest and Julio Gallo in 1933 in Modesto, California, E. & J. Gallo Winery is the world's largest family-owned winery and the acclaimed producer of award-winning wines and spirits featured in more than 90 countries around the globe. A pioneer in the art of grape growing, winemaking, sustainable practices, marketing and worldwide distribution, Gallo crafts and imports wines and spirits to suit a diverse range of tastes and occasions, from everyday offerings to boutique, luxury bottlings.

The Gallo portfolio is comprised of more than 80 unique brands, including Barefoot Cellars, Dark Horse, and Gallo Family Vineyards, as well as premium box wines The Naked Grape and Vin Vault. Premium offerings include Apothic, Carnivor, Chateau Souverain, Columbia Winery, Ecco Domani, Edna Valley Vineyard, J Vineyards & Winery, Louis M. Martini, MacMurray Estate Vineyards, Mirassou, Orin Swift, Talbott Vineyards, and William Hill Estate, along with highly acclaimed imports, such as Alamos, Brancaia, La Marca, Las Rocas, Martín Códax, Whitehaven, and LUX Wines, importers of Allegrini, Argiano, Jermann, Pieropan and Renato Ratti. Gallo Spirits offers New Amsterdam Vodka and Gin and E&J Brandy, in addition to imported Scotch whiskies from Whyte & Mackay, including The Dalmore, Jura Single Malt and John Barr Blended.

Apple growers have good reason to be optimistic, with New Zealand named the world’s most competitive apple performer in the World Apple Report for the third consecutive year.

The good news comes as hundreds of apple growers and industry players descend on Napier for Pipfruit New Zealand’s annual two-day conference. (August 2nd)

Pipfruit New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard says the apple industry continues to grow and is a significant contributor to the Hawkes Bay and New Zealand economies with a goal to achieve $1bn in export returns by 2022.

“Although the outlook is bright we are focusing our conference this year on challenging and disrupting industry thinking about what the future may hold,” said Mr. Pollard.

“We must not get complacent. We need to continually keep improving and stay ahead of our competitors as the NZ apple industry is transforming into a billion-dollar export business.”

The World Apple Report, recently released, ranks New Zealand first over 33 major apple producing countries ahead of Chile and the US.

Mr Pollard said it is a great achievement to have a competitive edge over the rest of the world and to keep holding that position.

“The apple industry has doubled exports in the last four years so our provinces are prospering from this success. We are growing hundreds of full time jobs across the sector in all areas including production, post-harvest, logistics, marketing and exports.

“We expect to see over one million apple trees planted in New Zealand this year and nurseries have three-year back orders as growers work to meet a growing international demand for New Zealand apples.”

The Pipfruit New Zealand Conference starts on Wednesday 2nd August and will run for two days with some well-known names taking centre stage.

Sir Ray Avery will speak about disruptive thinking, Dr Andre de Barros Teixeira will discuss innovation, technology, R&D and marketing and Dame Diane Robertson will address the impact of big data on consumers and markets.

| A PipfruitNZ release  ||  August 1,  2017   |||

Maersk Line has announced it will resume its weekly container shipping service to Wellington.

The service will return once CentrePort has completed works that will allow its ship-to-shore cranes to operate. These works were required following damage sustained in the November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. They are expected to be largely complete by September.

The Jens Maersk, deployed on Maersk Line’s Northern Star service and capable of carrying 3,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit), will make its first call at CentrePort on 18 September.

Gerard Morrison, Maersk Line Oceania’s managing director, applauded CentrePort’s efforts to complete the structural repairs needed to become fully operational again.

“CentrePort has kept us fully informed of its progress over the last nine months and we are very pleased to return to Wellington with our weekly Northern Star service. It allows us to serve our customers in the region faster and more efficiently,” said Mr. Morrison.

CentrePort Chief Executive Derek Nind welcomed the return of Maersk.

“We look forward to working with Maersk in the future as we resume our strong growth in container shipping volumes.

“This is great news for the region’s economy,” Derek Nind said.

Maersk Line’s Northern Star service deploys six 3,000-TEU sized vessels. The service makes six weekly port calls around New Zealand each week, connecting Kiwi consumers to goods, businesses to markets and enabling global trade. Through Maersk Line’s service network, New Zealand has access to 113 countries around the world.

Maersk Line is the world’s largest container shipping company, known for reliable, flexible and eco-efficient services. Part of A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S, headquartered in Copenhagen

| A Centrep release  || August 1,  2017   |||

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is expanding its ability to ship alcohol, wine and beer to consumers around the world. Using one of the UPS Express™ shipping services, wine connoisseurs can have their favorite cases of wine shipped directly from the vineyards to their home.

UPS is helping wineries reach consumers living in 24 of the top 35 wine importing countries, and distilleries in 9 of the top 25 spirit importing countries. Depending on the destination, orders can arrive at the business or consumer’s home within 3 days. All alcohol shipments require an adult signature upon delivery.

According to the International Organization of Vine and Wine, 43% of all wine is consumed in a country other than where it is produced. The global wine market is expected to reach $380 billion by 2022.[1] The countries producing and exporting the most wine include Italy, Spain, France, Chile, Australia, South Africa and the United States. [2]

Europe is the market leader in wine production and consumption. UPS will ship to 23 countries in Europe including these primary markets: Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Wine consumption is growing rapidly in Asian markets. By 2020, China is expected to surpass the U.S. as the world’s third-largest largest wine importer.[3] The fast growing middle class is driving the demand for premium alcohol. Last year, China imported $890 million worth of spirits globally.[4]

UPS will now ship wine, beer and liquor to consumers and businesses in 11 countries throughout Asia Pacific including: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. In Malaysia, only businesses can import wine and beer.

Mexico is earning its place at the table of major wine countries, as consumption has increased by more than 40% in the last 10 years.[5] UPS is shipping wine to Mexico, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Mexicans are also thirsty for America’s beer, importing $187 million worth in 2016.[6]

Canada and the U.S. are key trade partners and as more Canadians buy products online they’re also adding alcohol to their shopping carts. With the expansion, UPS can deliver to 5 of the Canadian Provinces covering 95% of all alcohol imports.[7] The Provinces include Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

Boeger, a small family-owned winery in Northern California, recently started global shipping. “It was hard telling our international visitors they couldn’t have our wine because we couldn’t get it to them,” said Tara De La Rosa, hospitality and logistics manager. “We are always looking for ways to expand globally and have our wines on tables around the world.”

De La Rosa and her team use Paperless™ Invoice to simplify customs clearance. The UPS shipping system helps wineries, breweries and distilleries avoid delays by uploading all of the required alcohol-related documentation for each country electronically.

UPS provides automatic tracking and visibility allowing the consumer to follow an order on its global journey. Boeger winery visitors will receive an email notification, in their own language, the day before the scheduled delivery.

The UPS Express shipping portfolio features three unique service levels: UPS Worldwide Express Plus™ for early morning delivery, UPS Express for midday deliveries and UPS Express Saver™ for end-of-day deliveries.

For more information, visit the UPS International Alcohol Shipping Guide.

It is the shipper's responsibility to know and comply with all applicable international laws and regulations

Alcohol Shipments Can Be Delivered to the Following CountriesArgentina* Finland* Macau SingaporeAustria* France* Malta* Slovenia*Belgium* Greece* Mexico* South Africa***Bulgaria* Hong Kong Monaco* South KoreaCanada** Hungary* Netherlands* Sweden*China India** New Zealand Switzerland*Cyprus* Italy* Norway* TaiwanCzech Republic* Japan Philippines ThailandDenmark* Liechtenstein* Portugal* United Kingdom*Dominican Republic Luxembourg* Romania*

*Only accepts Wine

**Some areas are restricted

*** Only accepts Wine and Beer

|  A UPS release  ||  July 31,  2017   |||

Trade Minister Todd McClay says Thailand and New Zealand have agreed to market access improvements for our exporters and announced a new agricultural cooperation programme.

“In Bangkok today we signed an agreement increasing the volume of New Zealand dairy products that can enter Thailand under a preferential tariff rate. For some products this will mean a preference increase of between 10 and 20 per cent,” Mr McClay says.

“We also agreed to launch a new programme that will help Thailand to improve its domestic dairy production and processing.”

“This is a positive step forward for our bilateral trade relationship.”

“Thailand is now our eighth largest market. Total goods exports between our countries have increased almost 150 per cent since the Thailand New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership was signed.”

Mr McClay met with the Thai Airways President who also confirmed that Thai Airways will be launching daily flights between Bangkok and Auckland later this year.

“This new service will be a welcome addition for travellers, international students and business people. More than 100,000 Kiwis travelled to Thailand last year and tens of thousands of Thai tourists visited New Zealand,” Mr McClay says.

|  A Beehive release  ||  July 26,  2017   |||