West Auckland restaurants to support local wineries

By WAYNE THOMPSON

West Auckland restaurants have taken to heart the cause of their local wine industry, which is struggling against cheap imports and lack of recognition at home.

Leading restaurants such as The Hunting Lodge in Waimauku and The Falls Hotel in Henderson are rallying round winemakers of West and northwest Auckland by offering only their products.

"We aim to give maximum exposure to northwestern winemakers," says Hunting Lodge proprietor Godfrey Bell.

"Many of our visitors to Auckland or New Zealand enjoy the opportunity of tasting wines made within a 40km radius of here. They are very good quality wines."

At The Falls Hotel, manager Malvin Reihana said the wine list had a local range of 18 white, 12 red and four sparkling wines.

"There is no problem getting the quality I want because there is such a range. I think they are reasonably priced for the quality and there is most definitely a demand for them."

The general manager of the Waitakere Licensing Trust, Murray Spearman, said the trust continued to support the local industry, although much of it had changed from family to national and international companies.

The chairman of Winemakers of Auckland, Tony Soljan, said patriotism was a bright spot for an industry taking on overseas competition by emphasising quality over price.

He said that in April, Winemakers had had a "good meeting" with the Waitakere City Council over a report by its business arm, Enterprise Waitakere, which suggested ways in which the council could foster the industry.

It said about 20 wineries in Waitakere, Kumeu and Waimauku employed 300 people, sold $150 million of wine and, with an allied supply industry, brought in $350 million a year.

Mr Soljan, who runs Soljans Estate Winery in Henderson, said: "Winemaking is still the biggest industry out west and council seem to have money for all sorts of things. But when running it through Enterprise Waitakere, there doesn't seem to be much."

Enterprise Waitakere chief executive Clyde Rogers said the council had approved work on a wine tourism development strategy.

Meanwhile, Enterprise Waitakere received a cool response last week to its request for the council's planning committee to investigate establishing "vineyard special areas."

Babich Wines has lodged appeals to the proposed district plan over the treatment of urban land surrounding its Ranui vineyard.

The council is preparing a concept plan as a way to resolve the appeal.