"Our company representative was the interpreter and there was a lot of interest. The Chinese see wine as being related to western culture so they asked a lot of questions about what limoncello is made from, if it's natural because that's important to them and mostly how to drink it."
They generated US$140,000 worth of New Zealand-made limoncello business from the show. Another trip in May this year was to strengthen distribution channels and in November Sovrano Limoncello will be back at the Guangzhou show they first went to, this time represented by their Chinese agent.
They have now received a second order from China and they are exporting to other markets from the Far North too. In July they shipped a pallet of limoncello to Canada and it's all been achieved without any material or even intangible assistance from Northland or the Far North. When he was considering the Chinese market, Andrea Loggia phoned the New Zealand China Trade Association to gauge if there was any assistance available. When he told them he was from the Far North, 'they just laughed', he said. He was then approached by a company based in Kerikeri working in conjunction with Northland Inc.
"We were told some funds were available for advisory services and training courses but the problem was we had to spend $5,000 + GST to get another $5,000. They didn't know our business or our marketing strategies and they couldn't guarantee success so I asked why I should pay for something I didn't need or pay someone to do what we are already doing," says Andrea.
Neither does selling a home-grown product around New Zealand and exporting it overseas seem to impress some Far North District Council staff. When the family applied for resource consent to build a shed on the property they faced innumerable roadblocks. "The Council sent notices to the wrong address and then the person dealing with us went on holiday so our time limit for resource consent passed because we didn't know," says Andrea. "When I phoned to explain what had happened the woman I spoke to made me feel like a criminal."
Their property is now on the market and Sovrano Limoncello and the Italian family who have built up the business may be lost to the Far North. They are considering moving to a district that 'welcomes initiative' they say. Already they have been in touch with another council and have received a comprehensive pack outlining what this council can do for them if they 'immigrate' from the Far North.
It's a very hard decision says Andrea because the Bay of Islands is a 'wonderful' place to live and they have been supported by many locals. But with a very Italian shrug of his shoulders he ruefully remarks it's like "squeezing the lemon tree" to invest in the Far North.
Then, as this story was being edited, came the news that Sovrano Limoncello made in Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands had picked up another prestigious international award.
At the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London, both the standard limoncello and the cream received the top score, the gold medal, for an original limoncello recipe. In fact the cream limoncello from Sovrano was the only limoncello to earn an award for this particular category.
To give those accolades an international perspective, the best Italian-made limoncellos that were entered in these awards in London did not reach beyond a bronze medal.
