5 November 2009Wahoo! An International Award
First commercial wine, first International competition, first international award!
Great news for us here at 36 bottles today. Overnight the results were released for the inaugural Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wines and Spirits Competition (IWSC). Our 36 bottles Pinot Noir 2008 has been awarded a Bronze Medal.
Recognising the strength of the emerging Asian wine market the prestigious London based IWSC (now in its 40th year) created the Hong Kong IWSC. The Hong Kong IWSC is built around providing Asian markets with a truly Asian competition designed specifically for the tastes and consumption preferences of the Asian market.
For our first vintage to be so well received in an Asian focused competition is just fantastic. We are extremely pleased that our wine was awarded by a top panel of Asia’s most esteemed judges from countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
This result will help us to refine our approach, and evolve our wine style so that our next vintages are also attractive in the Hong Kong and other Asian markets as well as here in New Zealand.
At this time we would like to extend our thanks to our great winemaking team, Dan and Sarah-Kate Dineen at Maude Wines; and Tim Kerruish who produced the super fruit needed to make this wine. Thanks guys, your support is invaluable.
Onwards, and upwards!
18 October 2009Congrats Neogine!
Jane and I attended the Designers Institute of New Zealand Awards as guests of Cam McDuff of Neogine on Friday night. A great occasion, held this year at the Auckland Museum Events Centre in the Domain.Nice to mingle with with the best and brightest, sip bubbly and enjoy the sunset over the city. The show was MC'd by Dai Henwood - he is one funny dude, and great at herding a gathering of design types!
The category in which Neogine was a finalist for the 36 bottles Identity Development must be important - it was saved for near the end of all the proceedings. So by that time the suspense was getting to all of us.
Neogine's reward for the great Identity Development for our brand was a Bronze Award. Pretty amazing within a category of very outstanding work. A different colour would be nice but as with the Oscars / Academy Awards simply being nominated was a clear statement by Cam's peers of the quality of the Neogine team's creative vision & execution.
Thanks to everyone at Neogine for the work on our Brand Identity, to us it is the absolute best. We are stoked that your work has been recognised by DINZ.
We also get to learn about the industry's ultimate Britten and Stringer Awards! There are some seriously talented people in New Zealand, especially Joseph Churchward who has designed over 600 unique type fonts!
The after party was also lots of fun, we had a great time.
So thanks Cam for the great time we had; maybe we can come up with something new for you and the team to work your magic on in the future and we will see your nomination turn to Gold!
28 September 2009Our Identity is Beautifully Developed
It takes a lot of hard work, long hours and inspiration to develop the identity of a brand new company. But when it all comes together it can be a thing of beauty and inspirational.
That is the case with the development of our branding and identity. It’s a thing of beauty and now Neogine our development partners, have the recognition of their peers to prove it.
The portfolio of work from our development has been selected as a finalist in the DINZ Best Awards, in the identity development (large scale) category.
It goes without saying that we are extremely proud of our collateral and the work put in by Cam McDuff, Yasmine El Ofi, Leyla Neilsen and the photographic genius of Dean Zillwood.
So Cam and team, our very best wishes for the finals and the judging. May you be suitably rewarded at the awards dinner in Auckland on 16 October.
