"It is essentially a group of 'pinophiles' - people who love pinot noir," she says. "It was amazing."
Not that Crawford considers herself a "pinophile" - she prefers white wines.
"I like pinot - out of the reds, that is probably the one I would drink - but no, I don't consider myself as one of those. I am just a general drinker."
Nor was it a love of wine that drew her into the industry. It was necessity - "two babies 13 months apart, timing and a talented husband."
After starting a career as a scientist in cardiac medicine in South Africa, Crawford moved to New Zealand with Kim, "a quintessential Kiwi bloke". She then worked for a pharmaceutical company before getting into wine.
The duo combined Kim's ability as a winemaker and Erica's self-taught skills as a marketer and exporter to establish Kim Crawford Wines - a small family business, launched in 1996, that became an international brand.
Kim Crawford Wines was one of the first brands to succeed by using a virtual model - where wine is made and distributed by external companies.
"We worked jolly hard on that brand," says Crawford. "We were by no means the first to use that business model, but we were some of the first to make it work.
"The good thing about it is that you know your costs are fixed and it is certainly less risky than it is growing the stuff."
In 2003, an "offer too good for us to refuse" persuaded the Crawfords to sell the brand to Canadian firm Vincor, and in 2006 it was bought by US beverage giant Constellation Brands.
With time and money on her hands, Crawford invested in small businesses in fashion and skincare, before getting back into the wine industry in 2013 with a new brand and a new outlook.
Rather than Kim Crawford Wines' virtual model, the Crawfords based Loveblock on a more traditional approach - growing the grapes, making the wine, then branding and selling it.
"The traditional model is much harder and sometimes I wonder why we are even doing it," says Crawford, "but there has to be more to business than just making money, so that's why we are doing what we are doing."
The decision to go organic was a long time coming.
"We were working really hard with the Kim Crawford brand, the kids were little and my dad was dying in Africa and I had a doctor's appointment for a cardiac event where they said I presented like a 55-year-old businessman, and at that stage I was in my early 30s. It was quite scary.
"So the first thing I did was cut out Diet Coke and my headaches went away, then I started to cut out everything that came out of a packet or a tin.
"That led me to start to look at skincare and what I put on myself. I just tried to have as little chemicals in my skincare products as possible. I then started looking at the house and the cleaning products we used, and the farm was the next logical step."
But the couple have found that organic farming has its challenges.
"It is really different. With conventional grape growing you control pests and disease much more easily, but with organic farming you have really got to have patience.
"We have also made mistakes. We were 10 feet tall and bulletproof. We had just sold a brand and we thought that we knew it all. We planted things that weren't perhaps planted in the right spots and planted a bit too much of some things. But we have learnt."
Despite the difficulties, Crawford believes organic farming is the way the wine industry is headed.
"A whole new generation of people with different values, who are interested in where their food comes from, how it is made, and how we use our land, is coming up in the industry. It is the youngsters, the young vineyard managers and wine growers, who are really interested in organic winery."
Loveblock has already made significant inroads into the US and New Zealand, but it has not been easy.
"It is a numbers game, isn't it," says Crawford. "The [New Zealand] market is very small and all 700-and-something wineries are here, some with multiple brands, so we are all fighting for a little bit of shelf space."
But she believes New Zealand has a unique selling point - its clean, green image.
"The wine industry in New Zealand is growing in double digits. It is not as mature as some markets but it is on a mad growth curve and we need to be careful that we don't kill what we have."
As for the industry's future, Crawford says New Zealand may be jogged from its place as a wine centre.
"My prediction is that South Africa will be the next big, sweet, hot wine region that New Zealand has been for the last 15 years. They are doing some amazing things."
As well as running Loveblock Wines, Crawford has also decided to enrol at university to study postgraduate viticulture.
About Herald Talks
PwC Herald Talks has been launched by NZME to encourage business leaders to share knowledge, insight and strategies, grow and diversify business in New Zealand. This is the second event in a series of four running from July 1 through to December.
