Several New Zealand wineries are joining forces to take advantage of the rapidly expanding US market.

Pacific Prime Wines is a co-operative venture formed out of four independent South Island wine estates, from Marlbrough and central Otago.

The venture is made up of the Nelson wine pioneering company, Forrest Estate in Marlbrough and central Otago vineyards Lake Chalice and Carrick wines.

Dave Nicholas, one of the co-op’s managers, says the move will effectively cut out the middle man and allow the independents to export straight into the US, our fastest growing market.

“A lot of that is about making sure the things you need to have happen do happen, and that’s hard with a third party importer.

“They’ve got their own interests, they’ve got conflicting goals, different objectives from the wineries.

“In this way we make sure that what’s happening for the wineries is exactly what needs to happen.”

 Dave Nicholas says the model would work in any primary food sector, not just viticulture.

“This is the first time that a group of food and beverage exporters have teamed up in a commercial way to take control of their own destiny.

“There has been a lot of marketing groups, but marketing groups don’t necessarily tend to be effective when it comes down to actually trading.

“So this is pretty interesting, for both the wine sector but also food and beverage exports right across the range of New Zealand products.”

Pacific Prime Wines will export their first cases of mainly sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and pinot gris, in late May.