{"id":597707,"date":"2026-09-12T03:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T03:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/597707\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T03:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T03:00:09","slug":"foley-wines-wins-approval-to-cut-mt-difficulty-export-targets-after-market-downturn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/597707\/","title":{"rendered":"Foley Wines wins approval to cut Mt Difficulty export targets after market downturn"},"content":{"rendered":"

The company is majority-owned by rich American businessman William Foley<\/a>, who is also a majority owner of Auckland FC and English Premier League side AFC Bournemouth. The sports-mad businessman is a financial backer of US President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Foley Wines told overseas investment officials its Cromwell wine operation had been rocked by adverse market conditions beyond its control. <\/p>\n

\"DevelopmentsDevelopments at Mt Difficulty winery in Central Otago have been delayed. <\/p>\n

These included a downturn in the international wine market, fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis<\/a> and a recession. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe consent holder submits that the original plans for the Mt Difficulty developments are no longer economically viable due to wider market factors,\u201d the documents state.<\/p>\n

The company said international tourism, a \u201ckey segment\u201d of Mt Difficulty\u2019s target market, was down 20% from pre-Covid levels.<\/p>\n

Domestic tourism was also down because of cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n

The company highlighted increased local competition from cellar door and restaurant businesses around Queenstown, citing Ayrburn by Winton as an example. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, Mt Difficulty is now less attractive to the already reduced numbers in the region for dinner services,\u201d the documents state.<\/p>\n

\u201cSubsequently, operating a dinner service is not believed to be commercially viable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThereThere has been increased local competition from cellar door and restaurant businesses around Queenstown. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The situation was compounded by high operating costs and regional labour shortages, the company said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, it is only commercially viable for the consent holder to operate lunch services five days a week.\u201d <\/p>\n

Regarding Mt Difficulty\u2019s export targets, Foley Wines requested a reduction from $4 million to $3.5m for the year ending September 2023, and $5m to $3m for the year ending September 2025.<\/p>\n

The company had not met its export conditions because of a global downturn in wine markets and \u201ccircumstances outside of the consent holder\u2019s control\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TariffsTariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump were likely to have a “further supressing effect” on New Zealand wine exports, Foley Wines argued. Photo \/ AFP<\/p>\n

Foley Wines also believed 10% tariffs imposed by the United States would have a \u201cfurther suppressing effect\u201d on New Zealand wine exports. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is likely to impact the consent holder, whose North American sales account for approximately 35% of the rest of their exports.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, Foley Wines pointed to significant investment in other parts of its business, which it believed should be considered as part of the application. <\/p>\n

This included a $13.8m redevelopment of its Run Holder facility at Martinborough vineyard Te Kairanga \u2013 more than $8m above the required investment under its OIO consent. <\/p>\n

This investment resulted in increased overall exports and job creation.<\/p>\n

\"WilliamWilliam Foley is the majority owner of Foley Wines and Auckland FC. Photo \/ Andrew Cornaga \/ www.photosport.nz <\/p>\n

The company said its association with the \u201cprestige\u201d Mt Difficulty brand had allowed it to market its full suite of wines as high-end products. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe consent holder submits that current export numbers of Foley Wines would not have been achieved if the consent holder did not have the prestige brand of Mt Difficulty, or if the Run Holder was not developed to increase capacity.\u201d <\/p>\n

After assessing the application, LINZ approved the variations in July last year. <\/p>\n

LINZ said it accepted that market conditions outside the company\u2019s control had \u201cdecreased feasibility of a cellar door and restaurant development at Mt Difficulty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Revising the export requirement to $3.5m was considered reasonable given the company\u2019s performance in the rest of the New Zealand market. <\/p>\n

The changes requested did not affect the criteria under which consent was granted \u2013 demonstrating a \u201csubstantial and identifiable benefit\u201d to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

LINZ also noted the company\u2019s total combined capital expenditure \u201csignificantly exceeded the investment required\u201d. <\/p>\n

Foley Wines has until June 2028 to obtain all necessary consents for construction and operation of the Mt Difficulty vineyard redevelopment. <\/p>\n

Failure to meet the new conditions could lead to the company having to dispose of the land. <\/p>\n

Foley Wines CEO Mike Higgins told the Herald the company was committed to the Mt Difficulty redevelopment and would complete it within the 2028 timeline. <\/p>\n

He said wine tourism in the Queenstown region was already picking up and the winery planned to begin dinner services this summer.<\/p>\n

Exports were down last year but were more positive this year, with strong sales into the Asia, British and US markets, he said. <\/p>\n

Lane Nichols is Auckland Desk Editor and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The company is majority-owned by rich American businessman William Foley, who is also a majority owner of Auckland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,25445,8239,12796,11346,52688,138,1853,24747,537,3588,9947,170,26560,9961,244610,16118,1138,56496,294612,206,1446,225,10048,111,139,69,9629,2171,30503,2919,8220,7677,61,2179,90587,21538,1754,29157,6202],"class_list":["post-597707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-after","tag-allowed","tag-american","tag-approval","tag-billionaires","tag-blaming","tag-business","tag-central","tag-costofliving","tag-crisis","tag-cut","tag-delay","tag-development","tag-difficulty","tag-downturn","tag-economically","tag-export","tag-firm","tag-foley","tag-governmentimposed","tag-luxury","tag-making","tag-market","tag-mt","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-otago","tag-plans","tag-promises","tag-recession","tag-targets","tag-tariffs","tag-to","tag-trump","tag-unviable","tag-vineyard","tag-wine","tag-wines","tag-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}