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Rachel Taulelei was named Māori Woman Business Leader for 2018 at the prestigious University of Auckland Aotearoa Māori Business Leaders Awards. The award recognises a Māori woman who has achieved significant success in her career to date.
Following our announcement about our acquisition of new greenshell mussel assets, Kono CEO Rachel Taulelei talked with Dale Husband of Radio Waatea about what this acquisition means for Kono.
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Kono, the Māori-owned top 100 New Zealand food and drinks company based at the top of the South Island, has acquired Ngāi Tahu Seafood’s greenshell mussel assets.
Tohu Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2017, produced by Māori food and drinks company Kono, has won gold at the 2017 New World Wine Awards.
The New World Wine Awards are judged by a panel of 16 independent expert wine judges that blind taste and judge each wine using the same internationally recognised 100-point scale as other wine competitions worldwide.
Rachel Taulelei (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Rarua, Ngāti Koata), CEO of Kono, joins 13 other senior New Zealand executives and business owners as a recipient of a 2017 Prime Minister’s Business Scholarship.
Our Tohu Single Vineyard Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016 has been rated as ‘outstanding’ and given 96 points out of 100, in the August edition of specialist wine magazine Decanter.
Decanter’s panel of experts blind-tasted, and then rated, over 80 New Zealand sauvignon blancs. Only two other wines were rated as ‘outstanding’, which puts Tohu Single Vineyard Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016 in the top five of New Zealand sauvignon blancs rated.
We have recently launched a new look for Kono.
“We’re really proud of the new face of Kono which encapsulates the power of four - four corners of beautifully woven harakeke (flax) kono from which we take our name, four iwi to whom our owners whakapapa, and ngā wāhanga e whā o te tau, giving us our four seasons,” Rachel Taulelei, Chief Executive, Kono says.
Tohu Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016, produced by food, wine and drinks company Kono, has been named in this year’s Fine Wines of New Zealand – a compilation of the country’s most prestigious wines for 2017.
From 16-19 May 2017 Kono CEO Rachel Taulelei will be co-leading a delegation of senior business leaders as part of a New Zealand Government trade mission to Japan. Taking part in the business delegation provides Kono with the perfect opportunity to further deepen relationships and build new ones, as well as gaining a greater insight into Japanese consumers.
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Tūrangawaewae is one of the most well-known and powerful Māori concepts. Literally tūranga (standing place), waewae (feet), it is often translated as ‘a place to stand’. Tūrangawaewae are places where we feel especially empowered and connected. Rōpata Taylor and Rachel Taulelei discuss what Tūrangawaewae means for Kono and our people.
An astounding selection of global wine imbibers and influencers will descend on the nation’s capital this month for New Zealand’s most significant wine event, Pinot Noir NZ 2017. The sold out event includes a line-up of 30 speakers from Japan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, who are tasked with sparking thought-provoking discussions among 600 Pinot Noir lovers from 20 different countries.
Annies, a subsidiary of Kono NZ, are excited to announce that their fruit bars have been named as the Best Kids Food Product in the 2016 Munch Foods Awards. The awards, now in their fourth year, are run by Munch, an eco-friendly New Zealand company.
Nelson foodies will have a chance to watch Masterchef winning sisters Kasey and Karena cook from their newest book and then sample some of the goods. Former Masterchef winners Karena and Kasey Bird are coming to Nelson on Sunday as part of a tour to launch their second cookbook Hungry.
Annies, a subsidiary of Kono NZ, have donated a pallet of Annies Apples Rings following the large earthquake on the 14th of November. "We’re delighted to be able to help the people of Canterbury, and our thoughts are with them at this unsettling time.” Mel Chambers, GM Foods.
Kono Beverages of New Zealand and Bouchon Wines and Spirits of Australia are pleased to announce a distribution partnership with immediate effect. Bouchon will exclusively promote the Tohu and Aronui brands in the State of Queensland.
Tutū Cider, produced by Kono NZ, has been awarded the Trophy for Best New World Cider at the NZ Cider Awards 2016. The increasing popularity of cider saw a record number of entries in the 2016 awards.
Māori business innovators in the Lower Hutt region are set to benefit from a new innovation hub launched this week by Callaghan Innovation. Te Whare a Māui - The Maori Innovation Hub, is a shared working space with tools to assist collaboration and innovation.
There's a spot at the edge of Tohu vineyard, where the Awatere River flows belo, Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku looms above, and the rest of the world pales to insignificance. It's a spot you can imagine Mugwi Macdonald standing on in 2000, and deciding this was where the Wakatū should plant vines.
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For the past three years, PhD student Mauricio González-Chang and Steve Wratten have been working with Kono Beverages to develop a range of "agro-ecological" techniques to disrupt the brown beetles' lifecycle and behaviour, and reduce their impact.
Nelson's reputation as a top all-round producer of wine varieties was enhanced with a syrah and a pinot gris claiming two of the top prizes at a national awards ceremony last week.
Business savvy, and an innate gift for innovation have led to extraordinary success —first as an entrepreneur founding Yellow Brick Road (a wholesale seafood company), and most recently as the first female CEO of one of the country’s largest food and beverage exporters, Kono.
Jonny Hiscox is rightfully very proud of his workplace, the Whenua Matua vineyards that are home to Aronui Wines. The name Whenua Matua means significant land – and significant it is. The Whenua Matua vineyard land in the Moutere Hills has special significance to iwi in the region. It is part of tenths reserve lands and can never be sold.
In her first public speech as CEO, Rachel Taulelei told a chartered accountants conference in Nelson, that where the company has come from is just, if not more important than where it is going.
The Rodeo Uncorked International Wine Competition in Texas attracted nearly 2,500 entries from 20 different countries, including Chile, Croatia, France, New Zealand and Portugal. Tohu Single Vineyard Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013 emerged as a winner, being awarded a Double Gold Medal and Reserve Class Champion.
Having already garnered an excellent national and international reputation for our Tohu and Aronui Wines, we knew that we had the skill and knowledge to present a unique offering to a growing segment of the beverage market. We are proud to release our very first cider – Tutū.
Four trophies in one week at the Sydney International Wine Competition and Australia Alternative Varieties Wine Show is a huge nod to our commitment to excellence in both our Nelson and Marlborough vineyards and in the winery where we are dedicated to sustainable best practice.