Cloudy Bay celebrates English summer

Cloudy Bay is kicking off its UK summer marketing activity with a high profile presence at this month’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The New Zealand wine brand has renewed last year’s partnership with designers Wilson McWilliam to create the Cloudy Bay Sensory Garden, but will also host a bar at the London show.

Intended to “recreate the taste experience and interpret the diversity, complexity, elegance and handcrafted nature of Cloudy Bay wines”, the garden will also reference the various micro-climates and soil types of the Marlborough region.

The Cloudy Bay Bar, which has been created in tandem with design agency W3, will similarly aim to bring an element of Marlborough to Chelsea. It will serve the brand’s core Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir expressions to the 157,000 visitors who are expected to attend the show this year.

Using natural lime-washed wood and floral notes that reflect its neighbouring garden, the bar features furniture and soft furnishings from The White Company, including scented candles. At night, the outside of the bar will be lit up with lanterns.

Once the five-day Chelsea Flower Show finishes on 24 May, the brand will transport elements of its garden across town to Knightsbridge, where it will launch the Harvey Nichols Cloudy Bay Terrace on 2 June.

Timed to coincide with London Wine Week, the venue on the department store’s fifth floor will feature a menu designed to match with the Cloudy Bay portfolio, with visitors able to try the full range of wines for £5 per glass.

Although this by-the-glass offer will only last during London Wine Week, the brand will stay at Harvey Nichols until the end of July. Dishes available throughout this period will include dressed Cornish crab, goats cheese and soft herb parfait, poached and roasted poussin, and a pistachio praline floating island.

Explaining this summer programme, Cloudy Bay brand manager Maria Ines Pina, said: “The immersive nature of our garden at the Chelsea Flower Show offers a different way of interacting with our target consumer; a more theatrical way to bring Cloudy Bay wines to life to a vibrant, urbanite audience. Taking the garden to the iconic Harvey Nichols, will extend exposure to a wider audience over the busy summer months.”