Stormhoek’s owners collapse

Orbital Wines, the UK company behind Wellington winery Stormhoek’s great success story, has gone into administration, following concern about the business from its bankers. Stormhoek has been widely applauded for its success in using the internet as a marketing tool – through blogging, viral marketing, etc, and an original line in advertising imagery (see the picture), and held up as a model for contemporary marketing. The company has claimed more web exposure for its brand than any other wine in the world.

'Change the world or go home' is the motto on its website – but it looks as though it is the world that is having a little more influence on Stormhoek right now, and sending the company's executives and employees home (including managing director Mike Paul, founder Nick Dymoke-Marr and owner Jason Korman). Towards the end of last year Orbital Wines’ affairs were taken over by an administrator and staff have been given redundancy notices. Thus far, ‘cashflow problems’ have been cited as the cause for failure. It is not clear whether Stormhoek had, in fact, failed to achieve sales to match the extraordinary publicity it had achieved, though its sales performance appears to be impressive.

The company's administrator is reported (by the British trade newspaper Off Licence News) as hoping to sell the business as a going concern, although it might be necessary to sell Stormhoek or any other assets separately. He is quoted as saying that the administrators are now ‘trying to meet customers’ requirements’. ‘We’re pretty hopeful that this will only be a relatively short period of time before we find a buyer. We’re speaking to a number of interested parties who have shown an interest in taking the brands forward.’

The local partner in Stormhoek is Graham Knox, who runs the the winemaking and vineyard operations. It is not clear as yet what significance the collapse of Orbital might have for the Wellington base – although the production business is clearly not covered by the administration.