Long-standing and highly regarded Wakatū and Kono Board Chair Paul Morgan, CNZM, stepped down this week from the Chair role for a sabbatical to recognise his long service.
Food and beverage business Kono NZ, an associated business of Wakatū Incorporation, has today announced it will be closing its Blenheim-based business Annies at the end of February 2023.
We are proud to announce that last night Kono received the prestigious honour of winning the University of Auckland’s Te Tohu Taumata Rau at the Aotearoa Māori Business Leader Awards, and were finalists for Te Tohu mō te Whakatairanga i te Kete Aronui i te ao Pakihi (Kaitiaki Business Leader Award).
Kono NZ is pleased to announce the sale of sustainable seafood company Yellow Brick Road, and the successful acquisition by former National Sales Manager, now owner, Martin Bosley.
We are pleased to announce that Marina Hirst Tristram has been appointed to the role of General Manager, Sales and Marketing for Kono. Prior to joining Kono, Marina has been Managing Director for her family business, Tasman Bay Food Co., based in Brightwater, Tasman. Most famous for Juicies, Moosies, Speedway Sauce and Dr Feelgood Frozen Pops, Tasman Bay’s team of ‘passionate foodies’, manufactures healthy products for families and exports to markets across Australasia, Asia and the Middle East.
Andy Wotton, an experienced senior executive, has been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of Kono, a word leading Māori-family owned food and beverage business which is part of Wakatū Incorporation.
Celebrations at the winery in July this year when we became the only New Zealand winery to win a Best in Show award at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards 2021 for its Whenua Matua Chardonnay 2018, our single-vineyard wine grown in the rich clay soils of the Upper Moutere region.
“When the universe gave us hailstorms, we made cider,” says Tutū Cider spokesperson Rōpata Taylor.
Māori owned Nelson cider brand Tutū saw an opportunity to produce a new cider after a devastating hailstorm tore through the Motueka region on Boxing Day last year, an event that left thousands of export quality Fuji apples wasted on the ground and destined to be stock feed.
A karakia from Kono to our customers, partners, industry relationships and peers in New Zealand and throughout the world.
Hold fast. Through unity we will overcome the challenges presented with Covid-19.
Annies products have been a staple of lunchboxes, road trips and summer picnics for more than 30 years.
And now the fruit snacks are a source of much-needed sustenance for those on the frontline in the battle against COVID-19 too.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.