NEWS
Wither Hills Launches its 2008 Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs
Wither Hills has followed up on last year’s inaugural launch of its impressive 2007 Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs with two exceptional wines from the 2008 vintage.
Both the Benmorven and
Ben Glover, Chief Winemaker for Wither Hills, says it is not an exercise to see which Pinot Noir vineyard is better; rather it is a way of educating and displaying the fascinating nuances of vineyard provenance and how they are revealed in each of these unique single vineyard pinot noirs.
“Our single vineyard Pinot Noir’s certainly allow for some elevated collegial banter– this becomes only too apparent when I ask fellow Wither Hills’ Pinot Noir Winemaker Sally Williams for her thoughts! Pinot can be equally vibrant and elegant, or dense and brooding, both have their place and both go beautifully with food. Oh and it can make you dance…,” he says.
The 2008
The 2008 Wither Hills Single Vineyard Benmorven Pinot Noir seems feminine by comparison with succulent, elegant fruit notes, spicy cherry, soft subtle tannins, long palate and layers of ripe acid texture.
“Since the first plantings of Wither Hills Pinot Noir in
“This understanding never stops or diminishes; particularly with regard to growing, nurturing, and drinking great Pinot Noir.”
This is a limited release for Wither Hills with just 1,800 bottles available of both the 2008 Benmorven Single Vineyard and the 2008 Taylor River Single Vineyard Pinot Noir.
Marmite Giveaway
A Merivale Fresh Choice supermarket will give away 36 jars of Marmite each day for the next fortnight in a bid to raise money for Christchurch Women’s Refuge.
The supermarket has a secret stash of around 900 jars of the popular spread, of which 150 are to be given away in exchange for a bank note donation.
Marmite has been in short supply since Sanitarium was forced to close its Papanui plant for earthquake repairs, announcing that Marmite would not be available on shelves until the middle of the year.
Supermarket employees will also be given a jar of Marmite.
Nestle Buys Pzifer Nutrition
Nestle has edged out French giant Danone to snatch up Pfizer’s baby food business for $14.6 billion. The Swiss food group had to dig deep for Pfizer Nutrition, which has 85 percent of its sales in fast-growing emerging markets.
Pfizer Nutrition has its foundations in infant milk formula with its SMA Gold brand currently ranked number five globally and available in more thank 60 countries. The infant milk formula market is the world’s fastest growing packaged food category.
Coles outperforms Woolworths
Australian supermarket chain Coles has announced an increase of 4.1 percent on sales of food and liquor in its third fiscal quarter surpassing rival Woolworths, who revealed a boost of 2.9 percent last week.
As the second largest supermarket chain in
"Growth in Coles continues to reflect a positive response by customers to the progress being made in improving product quality, service and value," Wesfarmers Managing Director Richard Goyder said in a statement.
Tesco’s Open World First Carbon Neutral Store
The
The new store is the first step on the ladder in Tesco’s bid to be a totally carbon neutral company by 2050.The shop, which has opened in the town of Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, is timber framed rather than steel and it uses sky-lights and sun-pipes to reduce the need for artificial lighting.
It also features a combined heat and power plant powered by renewable bio-fuels, exporting surplus electricity back to the national grid. The refrigerators – which are notorious black-spots for retailers trying to boost their green credentials – have doors to save energy and the harmful hydro fluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant gases previously used have been replaced.
Expensive Email for Piefection Foods
Piefection Foods Ltd has learnt a costly lesson after the firing of an employee by email cost them almost $17,000. Ian Hume worked for the company for 11 weeks in 2011 before receiving an email from director Andrew McEwan which read, "Can you drop all PFL items back to the factory ASAP. It is not working out but thanks for your efforts."
The firm did attend an Employment Relations Authority meeting on the 4th April and had previously failed to take part in two phone conferences. ERA member David Appleton says,"Given that Mr Hume was present in person and came across as a credible and honest witness ... I must prefer Mr Hume's evidence."
Hume was awarded $10,140 in lost wages and $5000 compensation while McEwan was ordered to pay $1814.40 plus interest at five percent from the date of dismissal in September for unpaid wages and holiday leave.
Cost of
Coles Takes on Capital’s Competitive Policy
Australian supermarket chain Coles has attacked the ACT Government’s competitive grocery policy saying it is damaging for both operators and consumers. The policy labelled ‘the most restrictive in
In a submission to a Legislative Assembly Committee, Coles has asked to expand in the territory in an attempt to curb Woolworths’ market stronghold. Woolworths currently control 36% of the territory’s supermarkets while Coles has 28% of the market in the nation’s capital. Believing they are the only viable financial competition Coles has asked for relaxed planning rules which would see them able to set up shop in some of the territory’s shopping centres. Coles is not alone in its opposition to the policy with Supabarn’s director James Koundouris also branding it ineffective.
''The policy, as it is currently interpreted and implemented, will have the effect of decreasing the market share of independent supermarket operators, resulting in the closure of many independent supermarket operators and small independent businesses [butcher, baker, deli etc] throughout
One in five
Which? tested whole and partial chickens from nine leading
Campylobacter is the most common form of food borne illness in the
Convenience Store Branding is On The Spot
With a distinctive magenta signage which is widely recognised in the South Island, On The Spot has been synonymous with convenience in the region for many years. As
members of the Foodstuffs South Island Cooperative, the 132 owner-operated stores range from urban corner dairies to larger-format rural grocery stores, but combine to
negotiate supplier terms as a group for a highly competitive offering in store.
In 2009, research conducted by Foodstuffs South Island confirmed high consumer recognition of the On The Spot brand, and uncovered additional insights around what
customers wanted from a convenience store in the region. Since then, the grocery cooperative has produced a ‘brand manual’ providing internal and external specifications
on signage, shelving, flooring, counters and overall design, which ensures consistency and means that customer expectations of the brand are met.
As each store undergoes refurbishments and as new stores open, customers will be presented with clean and refreshing store layouts, improved flow and a tailored product
range that suits that particular site’s demographics says Mike Luck, Convenience Business Manager at Foodstuffs South Island.
“These changes, as well as being part of Foodstuffs, are big advantages for our stores. For example, they are able to sell Pams products – New Zealand’s largest grocery
brand, and some sites are even able to offer the Foodstuffs barista coffee brand, Obsess, which is proving to be very successful as well,” says Luck.
A further opportunity presented itself when the Star Mart brand was retired from Chevron stations in 2010 to provide a premium, larger-format convenience store to support
the petrol or independent sites deemed to be in a strategic location. On The Spot Express was developed as a result, and has received extremely positive feedback from
customers, suppliers and retailers since its launch.
The future is looking very positive for the franchises and Luck says he expects to see major growth in On The Spot Express sites in the South Island, with store numbers
expanding from 17 to 70 sites in the next five to eight years. Meanwhile, the 132 current On The Spot stores will see a much stronger brand presence after their refurbishments
which began in late 2011, with further promotional alignment and support under the banner across the region.
“Having recently participated in a global convenience survey, the feedback strongly suggested that a convenience store needed to be a brand which is well-known and trusted by consumers in order to survive and prosper. What we’ve developed with On The Spot and On The Spot Express encapsulates exactly what customers are
looking for – locally owned, operated and focussed stores that are aligned to a well known South Island brand coupled with strong head office support, It’s an offer that clearly
distinguishes itself from the independent stores,” concludes Luck.
With 24 On The Spot and On The Spot Express stores already refurbished and sporting the new look, and two brand new stores, On the Spot Express in Kaiapoi and Washdyke,
Timaru in operation by March, consumers can look forward to an even more compelling convenience offering in the region in the coming years.
Milestone for DB Draught
DB Breweries celebrated 35 years of brewing its iconic DB Draught at its Mainland Brewery in Washdyke last month with a parade of its famous Clydesdale horses, new signage and a brewery name change. As a showpiece for the occasion, the Clydesdales hauled a wagon load of DB Draught the six kilometers from Washdyke to the Richard Pearse tavern in central Timaru and hundreds of locals got a free beer through a voucher in the local paper.
Up until 1977, DB Draught had always been brewed for the previous 47 years at the Waitemata site in Auckland. But growing demand for the beer in the South Island led to the shift down country. With this celebration, the company has now also called the Washdyke site, the DB Draught Brewery.
“There’s definitely a strong sense of ownership of DB Draught within the South Canterbury community and the wider South Island,” said brand manager Hamish Yates. “The legendary beer was first launched by our original brewer W Joseph Coutts at the time prohibitionists were praying on the brewery’s doorstep for its failure, but has survived depressions and wars to become one of the the country’s most awarded brews.” The company is relaunching's DB Draught with a new look but still retaining the same 4% product. It will appear this month with a new logo, a new look, new labels and new packaging with the Clydesdales central to the design.
Misguided Health Lobbyists On Obesity
Over the past six months there have been more calls by health lobby groups for taxes on fat and regulations around salt, but the latest doing the rounds is probably the most ridiculous of all – a tax on sugar. Those health lobby groups point out that Kiwis have an obesity problem (and most people agree), and that if we raised the price of goods containing sugar then people would switch to goods with less or no sugar because they would be cheaper, and obesity levels would drop as a result. It sounds simple so why is it ridiculous? Well, there are a number of reasons. And by far the most of compelling of them is that sugar intake is not actually associated with body weight.
That was the conclusion reached by nutritionists at Otago University after analysing two nutrition surveys. They found that, rather than contributing to obesity, sugar was significantly lower among obese children compared to those with normal weight. They also found that adults and children with the lowest intake of sugars from foods were “significantly more likely to be overweight/obese”. Their conclusion: “Sugar intake is not associated with body weight status in the New Zealand population”!
They also found that despite there being an increase in weight and body mass index and an increase in the prevalence of obesity between 1997 and 2009, sugar intake by males had actually dropped and by females had not changed! In fact, many experts, including doctors, agree that obesity is a fat-intake issue, not a sugar-intake issue. One such doctor, Jim McVeagh, of Auckland, says all that causes obesity in a huge majority of people is consuming more calories than you burn.
“If you exercise and eat fewer calories, you will always lose weight in the long run,” he says, adding that humans are “wired” to like the taste of fats and carbohydrates because they are the high-calorie foods we need to survive. He also points out that potatoes, white bread, rice, and pasta become sugar in the body as fast as cane sugar, so if the Government put a tax on sugar it would have to tax those foods as well as others that have natural sugars in them – such as honey (which is 80% sugar), tomato sauce (16%), fruit juice (10%), milk (4%), bread (2%)! So all those items would rise in price. And who loses if that happens?
You got it – everyone, particularly families. Clearly those misguided health lobbyists haven’t examined the evidence closely enough, or don’t want to in case they’ll find something that shoots their argument down. But even if sugar did contribute to obesity, here’s a good example of how a tax wouldn’t work anyway. A British nutrition expert recently estimated that a 10% tax on soft drinks could lead to a consumption decrease of 7.5ml per person per day. That, he said, was “less than a sip” of the most popular two-litre bottle.
It would not cut sugar intake by even one gram! Sugar should be part of a healthy, nutritional diet. All a tax would do is make nearly all food more expensive for families who are already struggling with their grocery bill, possibly even putting the health of children and the elderly at risk.
StoreCheck
THE Image Net team this month only went as far as Hamilton to check out stores in our monthly mystery shopper expedition. They picked the four corners of the
Waikato city covering three newish New Worlds and the older Heaphy Terrace unit that doesn’t quite meet up to today’s design standards but was a happily busy operation
and clearly a “local”. Our thanks again to James Peoples and his field team.