The holidays are just around the corner and it’s starting to feel a bit like Santa’s workshop at Kahurangi. Our ‘elves’ are super busy in the lead-up to Christmas, making sure that our customers have beautiful wine to go with all that summer fun.
What better time to introduce you to a few more of the people who make up our hard-working little team?
Working at the front desk, Nikki is the wonderful person who processes your order and makes sure it ends up in the right place. You might have had a friendly chat with Nikki on the phone. She’s full of helpful advice when it comes to choosing a wine or managing your order.
Melina works in the warehouse, packing orders and getting them dispatched on time. She works closely with director Hadyn. Sometimes he even lets her drive the forklift.
Anna-Marie performs all sorts of operational magic, from behind-the-scenes paperwork to creating our beautiful brochures and catalogues.
In charge of our accounts and managing stock control is Sue. Married to one of our directors, David Barrett, Sue is an integral part of our family-run business.
There are seven people on our sales team, located all over the country: Michelle, Peter, Fran, Sam, Jayne, Kersty and Fiona. Our sales team don’t just look after our restaurants and hospitality outlets, they’re our wine ambassadors. Nobody loves Kahurangi wines more than these guys! Needless to say, it’s an extremely busy time of the year for them as well.
Finally, there are our customers — people who love wine, and love supporting local growers and winemakers. Here’s what our lovely customers are buying in the lead-up to the holiday season.
Sauvignon Blanc is as popular as ever. Fresh and zingy, it’s the perfect bottle to pop into a picnic hamper. Rosé also goes well at this time of the year, looking very pretty in a gift basket, or dressed in a silver bow. Rosé is a terrific wine to pair with Christmas ham, smoked salmon or soft cheese.
If you’re looking for a festive gift for friends, or somebody who is impossible to buy for but loves wine, you can’t go past a bottle of Blanc de Blanc. Or, if bubbles aren’t their thing, they might appreciate a bottle of our limited and very special Four Barrels Range.
People often ask us which wine is best to serve at the Christmas dinner table. It really does depend on what you are serving. If you’re planning a traditional turkey roast, you can’t go past a Riesling or Chardonnay. A full-bodied Chardonnay will complement the herby flavours of stuffing particularly well.
If you prefer your Christmas dinner with a bit of spice or Asian flavours, Riesling is a wonderful choice or even a Pinot Noir. Both of these wines can handle a good hit of spice. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on some fresh seafood, our Pinot Gris is a wonderful choice. One of our directors, Sam, swears by a bottle of Mt Arthur Chardonnay with freshly shucked oysters. And, if you’re just not much of a planner, you can always grab a mixed case and play things by ear.
The Kahurangi elves will definitely be working hard in the lead-up to Christmas. But when the work is done, we’ll be sure to spend some time hanging out and having a laugh.
Our end-of-year get-together tends to be a low-key affair. It’s time to fire up the barbie, share some tasty food and celebrate another year together. This is when working for a wine company really comes in handy! It’s the perfect opportunity to raid the cellars and dig out a few of the dusty, older bottles.
As you can imagine, we have some pretty enthusiastic wine conversations. It’s incredibly rewarding to see how the wines have developed over time. It makes us all very proud. It’s also very cool to think that every person on our team has played their own part in making the magic happen.
