With New Zealand’s wines continuing to increase in popularity with U.S. consumers Villa Maria, is launching a new campaign to help seize that momentum. Entitled “Open Another World,” the campaign invites consumers to experience not just the sense of place in each bottle of Villa Maria wine, but the innovative and uncompromising spirit of the winery’s legendary founder Sir George Fistonich, who still leads the company today.
“New Zealand’s wines are at the forefront of consumers’ minds, creating a unique opportunity for Villa Maria to distinguish itself in the category,” said Richard Thomas, Chief Operations Officer for Villa Maria. “The Open Another World campaign invites people to step into our world and experience the unique story behind our founding and the tenacious and unrelenting pursuit of quality that has and continues to drive Villa Maria to its position today as New Zealand’s most awarded winery,” Thomas continued.
The campaign will kick off with a tour from Los Angeles to Miami with events taking place June 7 through Aug. 4 in various cities. In keeping with the brand’s history of marching to the beat of their own drum—for example, Villa Maria was the first major New Zealand winery to convert entirely to screwcap closures in 2001—the tour won’t just be a typical wine tasting.
The winery has retained a troupe of improvisational actors to tell the story of Villa Maria and founder Sir George Fistonich’s rise from a one-man operation to a global brand in just five decades, overcoming some pretty incredible odds along the way.
The theatrical performance, “Of Grapes & Grit: The Not Completely Apocryphal Story of Sir George Fistonich, Villa Maria and the New Zealand Wine Industry” will highlight the many milestones in the winery’s history and its contributions to the New Zealand wine industry overall, for which Sir George received a knighthood in 2009.
The performance, which will include audience participation, will creatively explore key events such as when the winery went into receivership during the mid-1980s due to price wars and the actions taken by Sir George and his employees to save the winery; to the unique and sometimes quirky personalities behind the wine, including a winemaker who serenades Villa Maria’s vines.