Peter Maude Fine Wines — Specialist Importers
For nearly five decades, this New Zealand family-owned business has been connecting local wine lovers with some of the world’s most sought-after wines.
Specialising in French fine wine through the En Primeur model, they import directly from renowned European regions like Burgundy and Bordeaux. Here, we are delighted to shed light on one of Alliott NZ's longtime clients and share their salient advice for navigating business with longevity and purpose.
A summary about your business and what it does.
We are a New Zealand, family-owned specialist importing business – Connecting our customers to a world of fine wine.
With close to 50 years spent selecting and selling wine, our enduring relationships with key wine-industry stakeholders have enabled us to access exceptional wines. We focus on Europe’s renowned growing regions, principally from France - Burgundy & Bordeaux particularly.
We market, sell and import (and generally in that order) these wines exclusively to New Zealanders. This specialist model is called “En Primeur” or wine futures (selling the wine before it lands in New Zealand).
En Primeur is a way to secure hard-to-get wines at an early stage, at the lowest release price.
So in brief, we sell wine futures, but also “landed stock” (like what you would get in a boutique retail wine store) plus we have a lively ecommerce platform where these wines can be bought and delivered throughout New Zealand.
When you want high-quality fine wine, superior service and unrivalled wine knowledge, we are the team that you need!
We truly believe French fine wine is more than just great wine. Fine wine is steeped in history, in traditions, in exacting techniques and practices that create wines with layers of unrivalled flavour, aromas and character.
That’s why we love sharing our passion for exquisite French fine wines with wine lovers throughout New Zealand.
What has been the secret to your business longevity?
Quality, service, knowledge.- Focus on quality, integrity of products, service, focus on relationships with winemakers and clients
- Only sell what we’d enjoy drinking - Knowledge - share our experience to make this complex world of wine easier to navigate
- Paying attention to cash flow and finance.
What has been the hardest challenge(s) you've faced?
- 1988 Stock Market crash (this was a while ago!)
- Ensuring quality control of our wine from the suppliers door to our own. We have to keep on top of this so our wines are kept cool, travel safely and are packed well.
- In years when our main suppliers (France) have weather challenges that affect crops, this reduces yields and the amount of highly-sought wines we get to sell are reduced, inevitably reducing profits.
- Most of our suppliers are in Europe, so visiting is not as often as we would like and it is costly.
Advice for people starting out in business or younger businesses?
- Develop a strong product with minimum outgoings, for example avoid paying for rent until established
- Look for sales results when considering marketing, specifically when it comes to social media - spend your time wisely
- Set short term and long term goals that are realistic.
