New Zealand Wine Guide

 

In the last decades, New Zealand has risen as an important player in the international wine trade thanks to its production of Sauvignon Blanc wines.

New Zealand is a remote archipelago made up of two big islands and many little isles in the Pacific Ocean, at a thousand miles south of Australia. This country is the most southern wine-growing land in the world.

With a powerful oceanic influence, the maritime climate is quite cool. The temperate areas are on the North Island. There is a remarkable diversity of astonishing landscapes yielding a wide range of terroirs.  The mountain ranges protect the eastern vineyards against the western cold breezes of the Tasmanian Sea. New Zealand is on the meeting point between two tectonic plates so it is packed with volcanic soils

History on Wine in New Zealand

The first vines were planted in the nineteenth century in the North Island, in the warmer areas of Auckland and Hawkes Bay. The wine sector had a new revival in the 1960's thanks to government subsidies and the arrival of big foreign companies. In the 1970's the winemakers began to be interest in the cooler sites of the South Island and a few settled their vineyards in Marlborough sector.

In the 1980's Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc made a great impression on the global stage and revealed New Zealand as a rising wine producer. This fame boosted the wine industry and led to the development of others cold wine-growing regions.

Nowadays this little country is an important wine producer on the global market. The big New Zealand companies like Montana, Nobilo and Villa Maria have opened the door of the export but it is the myriad of little familial estates that make the majority of the wine industry. The small wine estates are the one experimenting new varieties and new sites in rising areas.

New Zealand Wine Regions

On the North Island, the most important wine-growing regions are Hawkes Bay in the east coast, Martinborough inside the Wairarapa province and the island of Waiheke near Auckland.

Marlborough in the northern side of the South Island is the most famous wine area. In this island Waipara and Central Otago are the two other important producers.

Major Grapes in New Zealand

New Zealand's Sauvignon Blanc is the reference for New World wine thanks to Marlborough's production. The classic New Zealand wine has pronounced green pepper and gooseberry flavors, a few ones have remarkable passion fruit, leaf tomato and herbal notes and an outstanding minerality. The more complex wines can develop oak and creamy touches. The best Sauvignons Blancs from Marlborough are acid, fruit-driven wines with asparagus notes.

New Zealand also grows Chardonnay. With a large range of style, the wines are overall full-bodied, powerful and balanced.

There are a few vineyards of Pinot Gris and Riesling in the South Island's cooler sites. The winemakers produce dry, semi-dry or sweet aromatic wines.

New Zealand's Pinot Noir has won acclaim from all over the world. The wine lovers delight in its concentred red fruit aromas and high alcohol level.

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are used in Bordeaux Blend wines. Syrah grows on the warmer sites and their Rhône like style establish the New Zealand wines' rising reputation.

Our wines from New Zealand