Our regular feature, brought to you in association with Strange Nature gin from New Zealand, celebrates memorable scenes, moments, launches and campaigns related to the global aviation and travel retail sphere.
NEW ZEALAND. Given this column is proudly presented in association with a premium New Zealand drinks brand, today’s image couldn’t be much more appropriate.
In the parlance of the country’s beloved national sport of rugby it shows a ‘front row’ comprising two famed Kiwis with a French interloper in the centre.
That Frenchman is, as many travel retail executives will recognise, Sylvain Combe, CEO of dynamic Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens-based wine company Peuch & Besse.
And the two Kiwis? Well, let’s first offer some context. In 2021, Peuch & Besse launched Wines of Golf Legends, a collaboration between some of the world’s most illustrious golfers and a selection of outstanding winemakers. Travel retail is the primary target market.
In 2021 the concept was named as winner of The QDF Factor, an extraordinary industry competition to encourage innovation and differentiation among brand owners run by Qatar Duty Free and The Moodie Davitt Report. The company captured a six-month listing at Qatar Duty Free’s award-winning retail offer in Hamad International Airport, Doha, plus a free six-month US$50,000 multi-media advertising campaign with The Moodie Davitt Report.
The project developed from the friendship between Sylvain and legendary French professional golfer (and occasional river wader) Jean Van de Velde. They decided to combine their common passions – wine and golf – in a collection where each wine is selected by a golfing legend from a winemaker he or she has chosen.
Last October at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, Peuch & Besse extended the range with a new quality quartet. And, yes, you guessed it, one of those wines is from New Zealand. Marlborough to be precise, the heartland of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
The golfer? None other than Michael Campbell (right), winner of the 2005 US Open after an epic showdown with Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen on the final day. “There was little old me, just hanging in there between some great players,” Campbell said after his victory. “I snuck in there, and without anybody noticing, I won.”
To the left is James Jones, winemaker and Co-owner of Starborough Wines/William Jones Family Estate in Marlborough.
The respective winemaking and golfing aces collaborated on the superbly fresh William Jones Family Estate Sauvignon Blanc, every bit as crisp as some of the nerveless wedge shots Michael Campbell hit on that long ago June afternoon at Pinehurst. ✈
