WSET Diploma Unit 3: Asia > New Zealand > Flashcards
New Zealand Flashcards
Regions of North Island, NZ?
Northland, Auckland, Waikato- Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington (Wairarapa)
Where are most of New Zealand’s vineyards located?
Within 20 miles of the east coast, protected by mountains
Where were New Zealand’s first vines planted?
Northland
Which region of NZ is gaining a strong reputation for Pinot Noir?
Central Otago
What are the COs of NZ’s South Island?
Canterbury, central Otago, Marlborough and Nelson
What is the predominant climate in New Zealand?
Maritime (two islands)
Where is Nelson located?
NZ
What is the most climatic problem in NZ?
Excessive rainfall so most vineyards on the Eastern seaboard, where they are protected from prevailing west wind and rain by the mountainous range of the country.
Describe Marlborough Sav Blanc
Capsicum, cut grass, elderflower, but may include passion fruit, stony mineral, notes and hints of creamy oak. High end w/ intense concentration of fruit and high acid levels are capable of developing vegetal, asparagus notes with age.
Name 3 regions in the north island of NZ and the grapes they are known for.
Gisborne- Chardonnay
Hawke’s Bay- Cab Sav, Merlot
Martinborough- Pinot Noir
Name New Zealand’s two largest wine growing regions (in volume of production)
Marlborough and Hawkes Bay
Name two famous regions on the South Island of NZ and the varietals they are known for?
Marlborough- SB, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Central Otago- Pinot Noir
What is the Southernmost wine growing region in the world?
Central Otago
What is NZ’s smallest growing wine region?
Waitako
What are NZ’s three most widely- planted grape varieties?
Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Which of New Zealand’s wine regions are the warmest?
Northland
How far is NZ from Australia?
1200 miles East
Which wine region calls itself New Zealand’s “Chardonnay capital”? Why?
Gisborne
Name two famous regions on the South Island of NZ and the varietals they are known for?
Marlborough- SB, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Central Otago- Pinot Noir
What is the Southernmost wine growing region in the world?
Central Otago
What is NZ’s smallest growing wine region?
Waitako
What are NZ’s three most widely- planted grape varieties?
Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Which of New Zealand’s wine regions are the warmest?
Northland
How far is NZ from Australia?
1200 miles East
Which wine region calls itself New Zealand’s “Chardonnay capital”? Why?
Gisborne
Kevin Judd
Founding winemaker at Cloudy Bay who produced 25 vintages of its flagship Sauvignon Blanc
History- New Zealand
Missionaries planted vines in the early 19th Century. Romeo Bragato, the government viticulturist in the mid 19th Century advised on areas suitable for viticulture, largely ignored at the time, but his predictions are the areas planted today. Vineyard land around Auckland and Hawkes Bay planted by Dalmatian settlers in the second half of the 19th Century and by Lebanese settlers in the early 20th Century. Originally producing fortified and bulk wine, vine pull scheme of early 1980’s saw quality international grape varieties planted. Rapid expansion of vineyard area, technology and expertise started in 1970’s when Montant planted vineyards in Marlborough.
Trade- New Zealand
New Zealand wine production is very small in world terms. The main focus is the export market, primarily the UK and Australia, with a smaller market in the USA. New Zealand has a strong marketing strategy, based on high quality, low production one from a ‘clean, green land’. A cause of concern is planting to fashion, recently demonstrated with large increases in plantings of Pinot Gris. New Zealand can attribute success to popularity of its crisp and aromatic Sauvignon Blanc so most new plantings are Sauvignon Blanc. Recent growth and success with Pinot Noir is promising.
Climate- New Zealand
Long, narrow country covering a range of climates ranging from sub- tropical Auckland northwards through to cool in the far south. It is predominately maritime with most landmass within an hour and a half of the ocean. The Central Otago area is very dry and is the only continental region. Significant rainfall, usually on the west coast; most of the vineyards are planted on the east coast which is better protected.
Soil- New Zealand
Varied soil types. Recent work into researching soil type before planting, vineyards now planted away from the fertile poorly draining soils of the original plantings. South Island vineyards in flat river valleys made up of free draining stony loam covered by similar stones to the pudding stones of Chateaunerf de Pape; store heat during the day and release at night. Other soil types are clay and sandy loam, high water retention necessitates inter-row crops, drainage channels and appropriate rootstock choice to minimise vigour.
Viticulture- New Zealand
World leader in canopy management and trellising techniques. Good canopy management and spray regime are essential for disease control. Autumn and spring frost can affect both fruit set and harvest. Phylloxera a vineyard pest in all New Zealand wine regions, therefore planting grafted wines is essential. Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand provides for environmentally friendly viticultural practices that most vineyards have adhered to since the late 1990’s.
Vinification- New Zealand
Use of stainless steel, temperature control and high standards of hygiene have been transferred from the dairy industry, resulting in wines with pure, intense varietal expression.
Wine Laws- New Zealand
New Zealand is putting in place an Authentication of Origin Scheme based on the GI program in Australia. For the most recent developments, consult the New Zealand Wine website.
Auckland- New Zealand
North and west of Auckland city. Heavy, clay based soils. New Zealand’s warmest wine regions, sub tropical climate.
Gisborne- New Zealand
East Coast of the North Island, quality Chardonnay produced from fertile soil.
Hawkes Bay- New Zealand
Surrounding the two cities of Hastings and Napier. Chardonnay is the most planted variety. Famous for the sub region ‘the Gimlett Gravels’ a well drained gravel site where Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot produce high quality Bordeaux style blends, and promising Syrah.
Wairarapa- New Zealand
Martin borough lies north of Wellington city in the Wairarapa region. Small, boutique wineries produce rich, full bodied, cherry flavoured Pinot Noir.
Marlborough- New Zealand
North east of the South Island based around Blenheim, New Zealand’s sunniest area. Rapid increase in vineyard planting. Best vineyards are planted on the stony, free draining soils in the Wairau, Walhopai and Awatere Valleys. Majority of production high quality Sauvignon Blanc. Also planted are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, both for still and sparkling production and aromatics, such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer.
Nelson- New Zealand
Near Nelson city, centre top of the South Island. Planted in the Muter hills. Long fine autumns produce good late harvest wines from Riesling.
Canterbury- New Zealand
Vineyards planted on the outskirts of the city of Christchurch and also Akaroa, on the coast to the east of Christchurch. New plantings in South Canterbury around the towns of Waimate and Kurow.
Waipara- New Zealand
Sheltered valley area in North Canterbury that benefits from long, dry summers and autumns. Large v/yard expansion since 2000, predominately Pinot Noir and aromatic varieties.
Central Otago- New Zealand
Inland, south of the South Island. High altitude, planted amongst the Southern Alps. Climate is continental with large diurnal temperature fluctuation. Hot, dry summers and cold, crisp winters. Intense, elegant Pinot Noir is produced along with Pinot Gris and Riesling.
Frost in both spring and autumn is an annual hazard.
Sauvignon Blanc- New Zealand
Most planted grape variety, predominately in Marlborough. Distinctive capsicum, cut grass and elderflower flavours. Regarded as world bench mark in quality Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc grown in the north island losses some herbaceousness and gains riper characters of exotic fruit. Barrel age can give a complex smoky and nutty character that complements the herbaceous character.
Chardonnay- New Zealand
Planted widely. Many different styles produced using oak fermentation and ageing, malolactic fermentation and lees stirring. Unoaked Chardonnay becoming more common.
Pinot Noir- New Zealand
Quality similar to Burgundy. Main production areas are Martinborough, Marlborough and Central Otago. Resulting wines are powerful yet elegant with velvet tannins and bright red fruit.
Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir account for more than three quarters of total plantings.
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah- New Zealand
Grown mainly in Hawkes Bay and Auckland producing full bodied Bordeaux and Rhone styles.
Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Pinot Gris and Viognier- New Zealand
Increasingly popular, especially in South Island areas of Waitara, Central Otago and Marlborough.
Muller Thurgau- New Zealand
Used to be the main grape of New Zealand wine industry, producing neutral easy drinking wine for bulk supply. Now largely replaced with quality international varieties.
Hawkes Bay is located on the North Island, true or false?
True
Awatere Island is located in which region?
Marlborough
Where is Gimblet Gravels?
Hawkes Bay
What is the only region in New Zealand to experience a truly continental climate?
Central Otago
Esk Valley is a subzone of which area?
Hawkes Bay
Wairau Valley is a sub zone of which area?
Marlborough
Wanaka is a sub zone of which area?
Central Otago
Waipara is a sub zone of which area?
Canterbury
Waimea Plains is a sub zone of which area?
Nelson
Waiheke Islands is a sub zone of which area?
Auckland`
North Island- New Zealand
Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Waiarapa
South Island- New Zealand
Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Waitaki Valley, Central Otago
Northland- New Zealand
Island: North Island
Subregions: Kerikeri, Kaitaia, Whangarei
Total Hectares Under Vine:
Northland- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
Kerikeri, Kaitaia, Whangarei
Auckland- New Zealand
Island: North Island
Total Hectares Under Vine (in production): 406 (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2013; this total includes Northland.)
Major Grapes: (2013, New Zealand Winegrowers) Chardonnay: 62 ha Merlot: 43 ha Syrah: 40 ha Pinot Gris: 29 ha
Latitude: 36° 89’ S (near Henderson, Kumeu/Huapai)
Mean February Temperature: 67.6° F (19.8° C)
Soil Types: volcanic soils, layered sandstone and mudstone, heavy clays
Growing Season Rainfall: 24.2 inches (near Henderson, Kumeu/Huapai)
Average Annual Sunlight Hours: 2,060 hours
Major Natural Features: Pacific Ocean, Waitakere Ranges
Major Producers: Constellation NZ (Nobilo, Monkey Bay, Kim Crawford), Kumeu River, Matua Valley, Babich, Pleasant Valley, Cable Bay, Stonyridge, Pernod Ricard NZ, Villa Maria
Auckland- Unofficial Subregions
Matakana/Mahurangi , Kumeu/Huapai, Henderson, Waiheke Island, South Auckland
Canterbury- New Zealand
Island: South Island
Subregions: Canterbury Plains, Waitara
Total Hectares Under Vine (in production): 1454 ha (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2013)
Major Grapes: (2013, New Zealand Winegrowers) Sauvignon Blanc: 346 ha Pinot Noir: 334 ha Riesling: 280 ha Pinot Gris: 173 ha Chardonnay: 84 ha
Latitude: 43° 07’ S (Waipara)
Mean February Temperature: 63.8° F (17.7° C)
Soil Types: silt loams over gravel in the Canterbury Plains, gravelly soils near the Waipara River, limestone-derived clays in the eastern Waipara region
Growing Season Rainfall: 14.1 inches
Average Annual Sunlight Hours: 2,100 hours
Major Natural Features: Waimakariri River, Waipara River, Puketeraki Range, Canterbury Plains
Major Producers: Pegasus Bay, Pyramid Valley, Mud House, Giesen
Canterbury- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
Waipara Valley, Canterbury Plains
Central Otago- New Zealand
Island: South Island
Subregions: Alexandra, Cromwell Basin, Wanaka, Gibbston, Bannockburn, Bendigo
Total Hectares Under Vine (in production): 1909 ha (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2013)
Major Grapes: (2013, New Zealand Winegrowers) Pinot Noir: 1,356 ha Pinot Gris: 218 ha Riesling: 77 ha Chardonnay: 45 ha
Latitude: 45° 04’ S (at Cromwell)
Mean February Temperature: 63.8° F (17.7° C)
Soil Types: various (broken schist and clay, heavy silt loam, gravel, light sand)
Growing Season Rainfall: 10.8 inches
Average Annual Sunshine Hours: 1,973 hours
Major Natural Features: Southern Alps, Lake Wanaka, Waitaki River (North Otago)
Major Producers: Rippon, Peregrine, Felton Road, Mt. Difficulty
Central Otago- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
Gibbston, Wanaka, Cromwell Basin, Bannockburn, Bendigo, Alexandra Basin
Gisborne- New Zealand
Island: North Island
Total Hectares Under Vine (in production): 1,608 ha (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2013)
Major Grapes: (2013, New Zealand Winegrowers) Chardonnay: 794 ha Pinot Gris: 338 ha Gewürztraminer: 109 ha Merlot: 71 ha
Latitude: 38° 66’ S
Mean February Temperature: 66.5° F (19.2° C)
Soil Types: fine alluvial silt near the Waipaoa River, heavier clay loam in the plains
Growing Season Rainfall: 20.6 inches
Annual Average Sunlight Hours: 2,180 hours
Major Natural Features: Waipaoa River, Poverty Bay, Raukumara Range
Major Producers: Millton, Brunton Road
Gisborne- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand
Golden Slope, Ormond, Ormond Valley, Manutuke, Central Valley, Riverpoint, Patutahi , Patutahi Plateau, Waipaoa
Hawke’s Bay- New Zealand
Island: North Island
Total Hectares Under Vine: 4,774 ha (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2014)
Major Grapes: (2014, New Zealand Winegrowers) Merlot: 1,080 ha Cabernet Sauvignon: 249 ha Malbec: 95 ha Sauvignon Blanc: 937 ha Chardonnay: 1,006 ha Pinot Gris: 493 ha Pinot Noir: 316 ha Syrah: 311 ha
Latitude: 39° 65’ S (Hastings)
Mean February Temperature: 66.7° F (19.3° C), at Hastings
Soil Types: various
Growing Season Rainfall: 15.3 inches
Annual Average Sunlight Hours: 2,188 hours
Major Natural Features: Heretaunga Plains, Hawke Bay, Ngaruroro River, Tukituki River
Major Producers: Bridge Pa, Craggy Range, Esk Valley Estate, Ngatarawa, Sacred Hill, Sileni, Te Mata, Trinity Hill
Hawke’s Bay- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
River Valleys: Mohaka, Esk River Valley, Tutaekuri River Valley, Ngaruroro River Valley
Coastal Areas: Te Awanga, Northern Esk Valley
Alluvial Plains: Korokipo, Bridge Pa, Gimblett Gravels, Ohiti
Hillsides: Havelock North
Central Hawke’s Bay
Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District**
*trademarked brand of the Gimblett Gravels WInegrowers Association
To use “Gimblett Gravels” or “Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District” on a label, the producer must:
- Be a member of the Association
- Harvest grapes from a vineyard with 95% of the appellation’s defined soil characteristics
- Source 95% of the grapes from within the appellation
Any producer using the “Gimblett Gravels” logo is subject to audit
Marlborough
Island: South Island
Total Hectares Under Vine: 23,964 ha (2012, Wine Marlborough)
Major Grapes and Wine Styles (% of Producing Area in 2012):
White: Sauvignon Blanc (78%), Chardonnay (5%), Pinot Gris (4%), Riesling (1%)
Red: Pinot Noir (11%)
Latitude: 41° 52’ S (Wairau Valley)
Mean February Temperature: 64.2° F (17.9° C)
Soil Types: variable shallow, stony soils and deep sandy loams, clay-based soils on hillside sites
Growing Season Rainfall: 15.7 inches
Average Annual Sunlight Hours: 2,457 hours
Major Natural Features: Richmond Range (divides Marlborough and Nelson), Wither Hill Range, Kaikoura Ranges, Wairau River, Awatere River,
Major Producers: Allan Scott, Cloudy Bay, Fromm, Hunter’s, Saint Clair, Spy Valley
Marlborough- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
Wairau Valley, Southern Valleys , Awatere Valley
Nelson- New Zealand
Island: South Island
Total Hectares Under Vine (in production): 1,032 ha (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2013)
Major Grapes: (2013, New Zealand Winegrowers) Sauvignon Blanc: 476 ha Pinot Noir: 193 ha Pinot Gris: 133 ha Chardonnay: 79 ha
Latitude: 41° 30’ S
Mean February Temperature: 63.8° F (17.7° C)
Soil Types: gravelly silt loams in the Waimea Plains, clay-based soils in Upper Moutere
Growing Season Rainfall: 21.3 inches
Average Annual Sunshine Hours: 2,405 hours
Major Natural Features: Tasman Mountains, Richmond Range, Waimea River, Tasman Bay, Golden Bay
Major Producers: Greenhough, Seifried Estate, Neudorf
Nelson- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
Waimea Plains, Upper Moutere (Moutere Hills), Motueka, Takaka (Golden Bay)
Waitako and Bay of Plenty- New Zealand
Island: North Island
Total Hectares Under Vine (in production): 24 ha (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2013)
Major Grapes:
White: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc
Red: Cabernet Sauvignon
Latitude: 37° 78’ S (at Hamilton)
Mean February Temperature: 65.8° F (18.8° C)
Soil Types: clay loam soils in Waikato, volcanic loams in the Bay of Plenty
Growing Season Rainfall: 23.8 inches (at Hamilton)
Major Natural Features: Bay of Plenty, Lake Taupo, Waikato River, Kaimai Range (coastal), Hauhungaroa Range (to the west of Lake Taupo)
Major Producers: Morton Estate, Vilagrad
Waitako and Bay of Plenty- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
Te Kauwhata, Te Awamutu, Coromandel Peninsula, Lake Taupo, Hamilton, Rotorua
Wairarapa- New Zealand
Island: North Island
Total Hectares Under Vine (in production): 972 ha (New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report 2013)
Major Grapes: (2013, New Zealand Winegrowers)
Pinot Noir: 465 ha
Sauvignon Blanc: 316 ha
Pinot Gris: 55 ha
Latitude: 41° 21’ S (at Martinborough)
Mean February Temperature: 65.1° F (18.4° C)
Soil Types: Martinborough’s prized soils are shallow silt loams with gravelly sub-soils
Growing Season Rainfall: 15 inches
Average Annual Sunlight Hours: 1,915 hours
Major Natural Features: Aorangi and Tararua Ranges, Ruamahanga River
Major Producers: Ata Rangi, Dry River, Palliser Estate, Voss Estate
Wairarapa- Unofficial Subregions (New Zealand)
Martinborough, Masterton, Gladstone
New Zealand is the world’s easternmost and southernmost winemaking country:
The North Island lies on the same latitude as Tasmania, but over 1200 miles of ocean separate the two. The South Island is the larger of the two landmasses, and is divided along its spine by the Southern Alps—rainclouds moving eastward from the Tasman Sea deposit all of their moisture high in the mountains, resulting in a rain shadow effect for the wine regions of the island. The warmer North Island is less mountainous, and generally much rainier. On the extreme uppermost end of the North Island, Northland’s latitude is comparable to that of Jerez in Spain—although its climate is more often likened to Bordeaux—whereas Central Otago, the southernmost wine region in the world, lies on the 45th parallel. Winemaking regions run along a north-south axis on the eastern coastline of the islands; however, the effect of the ocean mitigates temperature variation and moderates the growing season. Abundant sunshine hours on the South Island aid ripening while the consistently cool nights allow grapes to retain acidity and the zesty character so prized in the country’s whites.
New Zealand’s vineyards are typically planted on flat expanses and most are located within twenty miles of the eastern coastline.
As in Australia, mechanical harvesting is common—a consistently cheap source of manual labor is difficult to find in the sparsely populated country. Unlike Australia, with its huge irrigated agricultural zones, New Zealand has little land to spare; thus, modern bulk wine production is not economically feasible—there is no New Zealand equivalent to California’s Central Valley or Australia’s Riverland. Producers overall have concentrated on higher price points in the global wine market. In fact, New Zealand wine on average commands a higher price per bottle than any other country in the world. However, this position is threatened by the recent release and influx of cheaper Sauvignon Blanc wines, especially in the British market—an unfortunate turn of events for the country’s serious producers, who have worked so hard collectively to craft the modern image of premium New Zealand wines.
North Island- New Zealand
New Zealand’s first vines were planted in Northland in 1819, but there is no record of wines being produced. The region is New Zealand’s northernmost and smallest area of production, contributing less than 1% of the country’s total production. In 2008, only 14 wineries were in operation. Waikato/Bay of Plenty covers a much larger area, but also produces less than 1% of the national total. Auckland, named for New Zealand’s largest city, is located between Northland and Waikato/Bay of Plenty. Despite its 1960s status as New Zealand’s largest region, production is now just slightly higher than that of Waikato, representing 2% of the national total. Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon lead in acreage. Premium red blends and varietal wines, especially from the subregions of Kumeu, Waiheke Island and Matakana, are highly regarded. Auckland is the traditional center of the wine business in New Zealand; both Montana (now under the Pernod Ricard NZ umbrella) and Villa Maria are headquartered here. All three regions experience a moderate, rainy maritime climate; rot and frost are among the chief viticultural hazards. Among Auckland’s unofficial subregions, the hilly Waiheke Island enjoys a singularly sunny, dry climate, especially on its lower western side, where many of the region’s wineries are clustered.
The bulk of the North Island’s production is concentrated in the central and southern regions of Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, and Wairarapa. Hawkes Bay is the second largest region in the country, and the North Island’s driest climate. Although Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are the region’s most planted varietals, Hawkes Bay is New Zealand’s largest producer of red wines, and Merlot is the leading red grape. Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc are widely cultivated, as are Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris. A range of altitudes, coupled with a diverse and complex pattern of soils, from greywacke gravel to heavy silt to sandy loam, suggests the development of a large number of future subregions. Gimblett Gravels, an area of deep shingle soils, is rapidly establishing a reputation as a source of good Syrah and Bordeaux-style blends, and already appears on a number of labels as a trademarked brand. Other notable subregions include Ngatarawa (known for Merlot), Esk Valley and Dartmoor Valley.
Gisborne, also known as Poverty Bay, is overwhelmingly planted with white grapes—the first vines in the world to see the sun each day. Chardonnay has replaced Müller-Thurgau as the region’s most planted grape, as the region—New Zealand’s third largest producer—attempts to overcome its past reputation as a bastion of carafe wines and lower quality. Gewürztraminer also performs well in the region, but red grapes simply struggle to ripen in the cool climate. Wairarapa is the southernmost region on the North Island. The entire region is officially named Wellington—it includes New Zealand’s capital city—but Wairarapa is the only wine district in the region. Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc are particularly successful, particularly in the subregion of Martinborough.
South Island- New Zealand
Nelson, the northernmost region on the South Island, is New Zealand’s sunniest wine-producing region. Paradoxically, it is also the rainiest region on the South Island. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Noir compose over 80% of the region’s vineyard acreage, excelling in the cool climate. Despite its proximity to Marlborough, high land prices and low availability constrain the efforts of New Zealand’s major producers to make wine on a large scale, and the region remains the South Island’s smallest. In contrast, Marlborough produces over half of the entire country’s wine, with nearly 10,000 ha of Sauvignon Blanc alone. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Riesling are the next most-planted grapes, although even the combined acreage trails that of Sauvignon Blanc significantly. Montana, through subsidiary wineries such as Brancott and Fairhall, controls nearly two-thirds of Marlborough’s vineyards, and maintains a solidly high quality despite its reach and size. The region has also gained a reputation for traditional method sparkling wines, from many of the same producers who made Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc a household name: Cloudy Bay, Kim Crawford, and Hunter’s. Montana’s Lindauer brand sparkling wines are the most exported wines of the country, and in 1988, a partnership forged between Montana and Deutz of Champagne to produce premium sparkling wines cemented Marlborough’s future in the world of bubbly. Average maximum summertime temperatures of 75° F are moderated by cool nights, and the dry, lengthy growing season allows grapes to ripen while retaining fresh, crisp character—an asset for both sparkling production and Sauvignon Blanc. Soil in the three major subregions—the northern Wairau Valley, the central Southern Valleys, and the southernmost Awatere Valley—is generally composed of sandy, alluvial loam topsoil over gravel, providing excellent drainage and limiting vine vigor. Some sites are more water-retentive, and induce a more herbaceous character in the final wine. Irrigation is widespread.
South of Marlborough, Canterbury is New Zealand’s fastest-growing wine
Vineyards at Felton Road in Central Otago. region, due in large part to the success of its northern subregion Waipara Valley. Although winemaking on the Banks Peninsula subregion dates to 1840, the more recently developed Waipara contains the majority of the region’s vineyards. Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, and the ubiquitous Sauvignon Blanc are successful here. Pinot Noir takes center stage further south, in Central Otago—the world’s southernmost region, and the country’s highest in altitude. Central Otago is the only region in the country to experience a truly continental climate, with greater seasonal temperature extremes than any of the country’s maritime regions. Diurnal temperature swings are also quite significant, and winemakers take advantage of the sun by planting on northern hillside exposures—southern-facing slopes are often too cool for viticulture. Low humidity prevents rot, but spring frosts are a costly problem and in cooler years winemakers have great difficulty coaxing ripeness from the grapes at all. Pinot Noir emerged as the varietal of choice in this marginal climate in the late 1990s, and as vine age and expertise with the varietal grow, the future for Pinot Noir seems very bright. In fact, Central Otago Pinot Noir, epitomized by producers such as Felton Road, Mt. Difficulty, and Rippon, can compete with anything the New World has to offer. Central Otago’s best-known subregions include Wanaka, Gibbston, Alexandra, and Cromwell Basin.
New Zealand- 2016
A welcome increase of volume produced after the small 2015 vintage. Martinborough had excellent weather conditions throughout the year, and is likely to fare better than Central Otago. In Marlborough, larger than average berry size is expected to emphasise thiols (passionfruit flavours) over methoxypyrazines (herbal flavours).
New Zealand- 2015
Marlborough enjoyed a very dry summer, resulting in wines with greater concentration than 2014 and yields were down 20-25%. Central Otago enjoyed plenty of ripeness in the Pinot Noir.
New Zealand- 2014
A generally good vintage across the country, with particular excitement in Hawke’s Bay where 2014 is thought of as potentially even better than the outstanding 2013. The country’s viticultural engine room Marlborough had its largest ever vintage, with quality touted as above-average.
New Zealand- 2013
A generally good vintage across the country, with particular excitement in Hawke’s Bay where 2014 is thought of as potentially even better than the outstanding 2013. The country’s viticultural engine room Marlborough had its largest ever vintage, with quality touted as above-average.
New Zealand- 2012
One of the coolest years on record, and an overall yield 18% below the norm. This resulted in Sauvignon Blancs with grass and citrus flavours instead of tropical fruit.
New Zealand- 2011
Warm and ripe across New Zealand, with a bumper crop of grapes.
New Zealand- 2010
Only produced 75% of average yields, but a very easy vintage otherwise. Sauvignon Blanc experienced particular concentration, while Pinot Noir was praised for its perfume and firm structure.
New Zealand- 2009
Good quality throughout New Zealand, with dry conditions making for lovely, healthy, naturally balanced wines. Reds from Martinborough and Hawke’s Bay were especially noteworthy.
New Zealand- 2008
A lot of rot in Marlborough, meaning careful selection was required to make good Sauvignon Blanc. Not a distinguished vintage.
New Zealand- 2007
Unkind to Martinborough, which suffered frost damage, but was welcomed across every other region as being good if not outstanding quality.
New Zealand- 2006
Good Sauvignon Blanc, but was more notable for Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah based wines that benefited from the warm and dry weather.
New Zealand- 2005
A small crop, producing wine with much greater concentration than normal.
New Zealand- 2004
High yields of good quality fruit across most regions - with the exception of Central Otago, which suffered decimating frosts.
New Zealand- 2003
Spring frosts reduced yield in many areas, producing 35% less fruit than in 2002. Quality is considered good albeit not stellar.
New Zealand- 2002
Warm weather that was good for Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, but less beneficial to Sauvignon Blanc.
New Zealand- 2001
Exceptional quality on the south island, but was lighter in style on the north island.
New Zealand- 2000
Much lower yields thanks to rot caused by rain. Marlborough was one of the best regions of the country.
Romeo Bragato
Dalmatian-born graduate of Italian viticulture studies and employee of the Victorian government in Australia who was invited in 1895 to investigate the prospects for viticulture and winemaking in New Zealand. His report was very favourable, and became an important document encouraging the development of the industry. Bragato found many regions ‘pre-eminently suited’ to viticulture and a surge in plantings resulted. Bragato identified phylloxera in New Zealand in 1895, and suggested the use of resistant rootstocks, but his advice was initially ignored. Offered the position of government viticulturist in 1902, he immediately began importing and distributing these rootstocks (which were to be used again to fight phylloxera outbreaks of the 1980s). He established a research station at Te Kauwhata with experimental vineyards and a training winery, and also published a handbook Viticulture in New Zealand. Bragato and the fledgling wine industry were, however, not supported by his masters in the Department of Agriculture. In 1908 he lost control of the Te Kauwhata Research Station and in 1909 migrated to Canada in disgust.
James Busby
The so-called father of australian viticulture, although more recently the term prophet has been considered more appropriate. James Busby was born in Edinburgh and became interested in agriculture in Ireland, where his father managed estates. Before leaving Scotland for Australia, Busby became convinced that wine could be made in the colony and so spent several months studying viticulture and winemaking in France. This allowed him to write his first book, Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, on the five-month voyage on the Triton. At 24, therefore, Busby was already an author of a viticultural textbook, although at the time it was considered too scientific and lacking in simple directions. A land grant of 800 ha/1,980 acres was made to Busby on the Hunter River in new south wales in 1824, and the property was named Kirkton. Busby was initially employed to teach viticulture at the Male Orphan School near Liverpool, and to manage its 5,000-ha estate. Unfortunately the school was soon closed down, and in between several other posts Busby published in 1830 his second and much more successful book A Manual of Plain Directions for Planting and Cultivating Vineyards and for Making Wine in New South Wales. Busby, like others of his time, extolled the virtues of wine drinking compared with the then common excessive spirits consumption in the colony. His book contains the much quoted ‘The man who could sit under the shade of his own vine, with his wife and children about him, and the ripe clusters hanging within their reach, in such a climate as this, and not feel the highest enjoyment, is incapable of happiness and does not know what the word means.’ Busby’s greatest contribution to Australian viticulture was yet to be made. In 1831 he returned to England, and spent four months touring the Continent, primarily to make a collection of vine cuttings for Australia. His collection included cuttings for about 680 vine varieties (not necessarily all different) from the botanical gardens of montpellier, Luxembourg in Paris, and Kew in London, as well as from other parts of France and Spain. This collection was shipped to Sydney along with seeds of various vegetables, and by January 1833 was reported to be growing in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. In 1833 Busby published another book about his tour to Spain and France, and listed the varieties in his collection. Busby’s life entered a new dimension in 1833 with his appointment as the first British Resident at the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. The nearby town of Russell was a trading port for visiting whalers, and described as ‘the hell hole of the Pacific’. Busby had neither the magisterial powers nor the constabulary to impose order but, through his and others’ efforts, New Zealand became a British possession in February 1840 with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by some fifty Maori chiefs. Busby had little time for viticulture in New Zealand, although he did establish a vineyard at Waitangi which was destroyed in 1845 during clashes with the Maoris. He is credited with being the first person to make wine in New Zealand. Unfortunately, the Sydney vine collection was not tended as well as it should have been. Some of the vines were distributed to Kirkton in the Hunter, and some to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in South Australia. Many of Busby’s imports were to become the basis of the Australian wine industry; indeed some clones of vine varieties such as Chardonnay and Shiraz still important today can be traced to Busby’s imports. In later life Busby was aggrieved to discover that much of the credit for his vine introductions was erroneously given to William Macarthur, another pioneer of the Australian wine industry. Busby died in England in 1871. His great contribution to the Australian wine industry was his vine importations, his writings, and his enthusiasm for the notion that Australia should develop as John Bull’s (England’s) vineyard of the Antipodes.
Brancott Estate
Long known as Montana, once the dominant producer and exporter of new zealand wine, responsible for about half the country’s production. It was founded in 1934 when Ivan Yukich planted a vineyard in the Waitakere Ranges west of Auckland. His sons, Frank and Mate, adopted the vineyard’s name, Montana, when they founded a wine company 30 years later. Montana helped drive, and greatly profited from, New Zealand’s rapid rise in wine consumption from the early 1970s. Increased wine production was originally achieved with the help of contracted grape growers, particularly in Gisborne and later in Hawke’s Bay. In 1973, the North American wine and spirit giant Seagram bought 45% of Montana, the additional capital and expertise allowing the company to invest heavily in vineyards, specifically pioneering grape-growing in Marlborough. Seagram sold its share in the company in 1987. In 2000, Montana acquired Corbans Wines, New Zealand’s second largest wine producer. Between 2001 and 2005, the company, renamed Allied Domecq Wines (NZ), was the jewel in the crown of the wine division of the eponymous British conglomerate before being acquired by pernod ricard, which changed the New Zealand company’s name to avoid confusion with the American state. In 2010 Pernod Ricard NZ sold five sparkling wine brands and seven still wine brands to Lion Nathan New Zealand. At the same time it also sold its Gisborne winery, all of its vineyards in the Gisborne region, and one Hawke’s Bay winery to Lion Nathan and their joint venture partner Indevin. By ‘streamlining its production footprint’ Pernod Ricard lost the company’s dominant status and the New Zealand wine industry is no longer dominated by a single producer.
Cloudy Bay
Seminal winery in the Marlborough region of new zealand, the brainchild of David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle in western australia. Its debut release of a moodily labelled varietal Sauvignon Blanc in 1985 on export markets created a reputation for Marlborough Sauvignon and a cult following for Cloudy Bay almost overnight, even though initially the grapes were bought in and the wine made under contract at another winery. The enterprise, based in its own premises, became a distant offshoot of the veuve clicquot, and hence lvmh, empire in 1990. It also produces Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and a sparkling wine Pelorus.
BYO Licence
Stands for ‘Bring Your Own’ (Wine) and is a type of restaurant most common in Australia and New Zealand, where the term was coined. The term is associated with maximum wine-drinking pleasure at minimum cost to the restaurant-goer (in tandem with reduced profit to the restaurateur). New Zealanders claim that the BYO name and concept was born in 1976 when the New Zealand authorities, still notably cautious about the distribution of alcoholic drinks, devised the Bring Your Own licence for restaurants at which diners would be allowed to take their own wine. Australians in the state of Victoria, also famously restrictive in its legislative attitude to alcoholic drinks, maintain that Melbourne had BYO establishments in the 1960s. Wherever its origins, this arrangement has become common for a wide range of restaurants in Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere, the wine often being bought in a nearby retail establishment. corkage is sometimes but not always charged. The expression in the US is BYOB as in ‘Bring Your Own Bottle’, most commonly encouraged here and elsewhere either in restaurants too new to have a liquor licence and during quiet periods such as Mondays or when regular customers are on holiday.
Lincoln
University Centre for Viticulture and Oenology, research and teaching institution at Lincoln, Canterbury, in the South Island of new zealand. Research focuses specifically on the growth and production of Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, in particular how cool-climate growing conditions, such as those in New Zealand, affect the flavours, aromas, mouthfeel, phenolics, and tannins of these grape varieties. Lincoln is a specialist land-based university with a traditional agricultural science background, from which the viticulture and oenology programme grew in 1989. Lincoln is the largest wine training facility in New Zealand with study options up to PhD level. All programmes emphasize the integration of grape growing and winemaking from vine to glass. The focus is on such aspects of wine production as vineyard site selection, planting material, vine management, harvest parameters, grape handling, fermentation control, and wine finishing as well as vine physiology and fermentation chemistry.
Screwcaps
Sometimes known as ROTEs (roll-on, tamper-evident), and often by the brand name Stelvin®, have emerged as the leading competitor to cork in terms of performance if not yet in terms of usage. They are cheaper than top-quality corks, and no capsules are needed, but the cost of new bottling equipment and bottles can deter smaller producers.
Screwcaps as an alternative to cork for bottling wine were first used in 1959, when a French company introduced the Stelcap-vin, which had already proved successful for a range of spirits and liqueurs. The rights to manufacture this closure were acquired by Australian Consolidated Industries Ltd (ACI) in 1970 and it was renamed Stelvin® for the Australian market. ACI trials of four closures (three screwcaps with different wadding materials and a cork for comparison) on three red and three white wines, first reported in 1976, concluded that screwcaps were ideal for sealing wine bottles but only if they had the right wadding material and a satisfactory seal between bottle and cap. An industry push towards screwcaps at that time lost momentum, partly through lack of consumer acceptance, and partly because awareness of the shortcomings of cork were not as widespread then as now.
As dissatisfaction with cork gradually increased, there were sporadic attempts to introduce screwcaps to the market place. In 2000, winemakers in Australia’s Clare Valley, famous for its Rieslings, banded together to take a stand on the issue. The Clare winemakers, many of whose wines are made in a style that shows up any cork-related faults particularly transparently, had to overcome a significant logistical obstacle: at the time, no Australian supplier could offer bottles and caps of the required style and quality. As a result, they had to gather together enough like-minded producers willing to adopt screwcaps to generate the threshold order of 250,000 bottles from Pechiney in France. Their effort made the headlines and the momentum increased so that by the 2004 vintage some 200 million wine bottles were sealed with screwcaps in Australia. This Clare initiative prompted New Zealand winemakers to form the New Zealand Screwcap Initiative in 2001. By 2004, an estimated 70% of New Zealand’s wines were sealed under screwcap, up from just 1% three years earlier. Ten years later, in 2014, an estimated 95% of New Zealand wines and 80% of Australian wines are screwcap-sealed. Whether or not screwcaps establish such a presence in the Americas and the more traditional European wine-producing countries remains to be seen.
Screwcaps consist of two components: the aluminium alloy cap, which comes attached to the sleeve, and the liner, which is made of an expanded polyethylene wadding. The liner typically contains a tin-foil layer that acts as a barrier to gas exchange, overlain by a PVDC (Saranex®) film that provides an inert surface in contact with the wine. In production, the screwcap is not screwed on but is held down tight over the end of the bottle and a set of rollers moulds the sleeve of the cap over the ridges on the outside of the top portion of the neck. This holds the whole closure firmly in place. The cap itself is joined to the sleeve by a series of small metal bridges, which are broken when the cap is twisted. To obtain a tight seal it is especially important that the lip of the bottle be free of defects.
Although they are often considered as a single closure type, not all screwcaps are alike. The most significant difference is in the nature of the liner. In some caps this lacks the tin-foil layer; the closure therefore has higher oxygen transfer properties (see oxygen transmission rate) and is less suited to long ageing of wines.
Trials have shown that screwcaps with tin/Saranex® liners provide a more effective barrier to gas exchange than all but the very best corks. Screwcaps are inert and can last many years (and have kept white and red wine in good condition for more than 30 years). They also have the advantage of requiring no equipment to remove them. Screwcaps suitable for sealing sparkling wines at full pressure have been developed, but have yet to make much impact on the marketplace. Some industry commentators predict that they will eventually replace corks for almost all wine types. However, controversy remains over whether they are the best closure type for red wines destined for long ageing and for some styles of white wine. While some scientists argue that wine ageing is an anaerobic process most successful in the complete absence of extrinsic oxygen, others suspect that the tiny amounts of oxygen transmitted by the less than perfect seal of corks and diffused from within the cork cells—or the oxygen transmitted by screwcaps without a metal foil layer in the lining—are important for red wine ageing. Because the chemistry of wine ageing is incompletely understood, it is likely that only long-term trials with red wines sealed under different closures will settle this debate.
Viticulturalist
Someone who practises viticulture. In many countries the grape-grower is termed simply ‘grower’ rather than ‘viticulturist’, which word is more often used for professionals who typically have some formal tertiary training in viticulture. Grape-growers or vine-growers may also be termed wine-growers
Vineyard Site Selection
Can be the single most important aspect of grape production in the new world, even if it is not always appreciated as such. If, for example, the new vineyard is in a cool region, then the topography of the site may be a critical factor in avoiding frost damage and the aspect chosen may be vital to ensure adequate warmth for ripening (see hillside vineyards). On the relatively rare occasions when a vineyard site may be selected in the Old World, it is, of course, just as crucial. (Most Old World vineyards have been in existence for centuries, and when a new vineyard is created, or recreated, another important consideration may be whether or not it qualifies for a certain appellation.)
Vineyard site selection embraces more than just choosing the vineyard location, as the decision will affect the vineyard’s yield, quality of the wine produced, and therefore the vineyard’s long-term profitability. The site’s regional climate, or macroclimate, for example, determines by virtue of temperature and sunshine hours which vine varieties should be grown, and the resulting likely wine style and quality. For example, lower temperatures produce more delicately flavoured wines, and hot climates produce wines relatively high in alcohol. Such effects are discussed under climate and wine quality. Vineyards are often planted at higher elevations to take advantage of lower temperatures. The site selection process might include evaluating climatic data from distinguished wine regions in an attempt to locate similar climates, or homoclimes, as has been done with considerable success in Australia. With its enormous range of latitude and elevation, Chile has a greater opportunity than most countries to match climates.
Modern science is creating new methods of vineyard site selection, especially based on geographical information systems (GIS) and digitized databases. Researchers at virginia tech in the US, for example, have identified sites with the greatest potential by overlaying maps of the same area according to different selection criteria such as elevation and land use, slope and aspect, and winter freeze risk. Such approaches provide a useful alternative to the trial and error more usually employed.
Similarly, rainfall and humidity affect the likelihood of many vine diseases, especially important fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, downy mildew, and botrytis bunch rot. The likelihood of these diseases can be estimated by reference to climate records. In addition, the threat of nematodes may be evaluated by knowledge of indigenous types, or of the previous crops grown on the site. It may even be possible to avoid the introduction of phylloxera and other pests and diseases by creating a local quarantine. If phylloxera and nematodes are considered a likely problem, the appropriate rootstocks can be used.
The site climate, or mesoclimate, affects, for example, the extent to which cold air drains away, and the likelihood of spring and autumn frost. A site’s proximity to bodies of water such as lakes (see lake effect) can be important in providing protection from injury due to particularly low temperatures, as in new york state and switzerland. These attributes depend on local topography.
The balance between rainfall and evaporation indicates the likelihood of drought, and for some regions at least whether irrigation is desirable, and the amount of water required. In many parts of the world availability of high-quality water for irrigation is an essential factor in site selection. This may involve locating vineyards near streams or rivers, or with access to underground (artesian) water, or opportunities to build dams or reservoirs.
soil conditions present at the site will determine vineyard vigour, with deep, fertile soils, for example, leading to vigorous growth and the possibility of high yields, but the concomitant need to manage the problems this creates (see canopy management). Premium-quality vineyards are typically found on soils with low water-holding capacity, and low soil fertility. Site selection normally involves a process of soil mapping and physical and chemical analysis of soil samples. This allows potential problems such as poor drainage or soil acidity to be treated appropriately before the vineyard is planted. Knowledge of soil depth indicates likely vine vigour.
Vegetation growing at the site, and the productivity and quality of other agricultural crops grown in the region, can be used as an indicator of the vineyard performance. The types of trees present give guidance as to the soil properties, and their size for their age indicates soil fertility and water supply.
Not all important features of potential vineyard sites are natural ones. Frontage to busy roads is essential if retail sales are expected from the vineyard site. Good communications with markets and proximity to a supply of labour can also be significant. The performance and reputation of other vineyards in the area can also be commercially important.
Leaf Removal
Vineyard practice aimed at helping to control botrytis bunch rot and other bunch rots, and at improving grape composition and therefore wine quality. Typically the leaves are removed around the bunches to increase exposure to the sun and wind. The bunches dry out more quickly after dew and rain so that moulds are less likely to develop. Increased exposure to sunlight, especially to ultraviolet radiation, helps the berries produce more of the phenolics important in wine quality. Grape sugars are also increased and malic acid and methoxypyrazines are reduced, all of which contribute to improved wine quality. Leaf removal is also used to improve the colour of black and red table grapes.
For optimal effects on wine quality, leaves should be removed after fruit set and before veraison, although it is more usual to remove them at the onset of veraison. In Europe it is common to remove leaves nearer to the time of harvest, primarily to reduce the risk of botrytis bunch rot. Recent studies by Poni in Italy have shown that removal of lower, mature leaves on the shoot by the time of flowering reduces fruit set or berries per bunch. As a result, the bunches are looser with less berry-to-berry contact, and so less prone to botrytis bunch rot. Sugar and anthocyanin levels were also found to be higher. Early leaf removal can be considered a means of yield control. Traditionally leaf removal has been done by hand, requiring about 50 hours of labour per hectare (2.5 acres), but machines which take less than five hours per hectare to remove leaves by suction and/or cutting have been developed.
Recent studies around the world have questioned excessive leaf removal in warm to hot climates, because there can be negative effects on fruit composition and wine quality (see sunburn, increasingly seen in some regions). This is due to the bunches being heated by the sun, leading to undesirably high temperatures within the grape berries in the afternoon when air temperature is also higher. The alternative is to do less removal on the western side of the canopy.
Decreasing dependence on agrochemicals in the vineyard has led to renewed interest in leaf removal in both Old and New Worlds. As well as making the fruit less prone to fungal diseases by improving aeration, leaf removal can also increase the effectiveness of such chemicals as may be applied to protect the fruit.
herbaceous
Tasting term for the leafy or grassy aroma of crushed green leaves or freshly cut grass. Herbaceousness is generally considered a defect only when present in excess (although American tasters are much less tolerant of it than, for example, the British). Wines made from the produce of sauvignon blanc, sémillon, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, or merlot vines which failed to ripen fully are often excessively herbaceous. In general, the younger the vines, the greater their vigour, and the earlier the grapes are picked, the more pronounced the herbaceousness. One cause of vegetative herbaceous aromas, particularly in wines of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon, is the presence of methoxypyrazines originating from the grape; see also flavour compounds. Another source of herbaceousness is six-carbon atom leaf aldehydes.
Numerous investigations have shown that they, and the corresponding six-carbon atom alcohols, derive from linoleic and linolenic, which are both fatty acids found in plant leaves and in the fruit. These decompose rapidly once the grape berry is crushed to yield hexanal, hexenal, and the related unsaturated alcohols, all six-carbon atom compounds which can react further during fermentation to produce a wide range of flavour compounds which are responsible for the aroma called herbaceous. Another reason why a wine may taste herbaceous is from vine leaves inadvertently crushed with the grapes (see mog). Early mechanical harvesters were particularly prone to do this, and the grapes were often so mangled that it was impossible to separate the wet leaves from them. Wines made from such a blend would also not surprisingly be high in leaf aldehydes and taste distinctly leafy or herbaceous, a problem accentuated when such mechanical harvesters are used on relatively young vineyards. More sophisticated machine harvesters have reduced leaf contamination considerably.
New Zealand
Southern Pacific islands 1,000 miles/1,600 km away from the nearest land mass, australia, has an agricultural economy that is far more dependent on dairy products than it is on wine, the country’s eighth-biggest export. Vines were first planted in 1819 but it took more than 150 years for New Zealanders to discover that their country’s cool, maritime climate was suitable for high-quality wine production. Although production is small by world standards (one-tenth of Australia’s relatively small wine output), vines are now grown on about 35,000 ha/86,450 acres (an increase of almost 60% between 2007 and 2013) in nine regions spanning 1,200 km/720 miles, almost the full length of the country’s North and South Islands.
New Zealand- History
Missionaries were responsible for New Zealand’s first grapevines, planted by an Englishman, the Reverend Samuel Marsden, at Kerikeri on the far north east coast of the North Island in 1819. There is no record of Marsden making wine. That honour belongs to the first British resident, James busby, who established a vineyard at nearby Waitangi in 1836 and subsequently sold his wine to the British troops.
New Zealand’s early English working-class settlers preferred beer to wine, their thirst founding and sustaining a substantial brewing industry. (The country’s annual per capita consumption of beer still exceeds 70 l/18 gal per capita, while that of wine is just over 20 l.).
The wine industry has experienced a roller-coaster ride during its relatively brief history. Nature has played a part in its fortunes, thanks to pests such as phylloxera and diseases such as powdery mildew, but government policy has had by far the most significant impact. Economic peaks include the growth years 1890–1910, when New Zealand wine managed to capture 25% of the country’s total wine consumption (imports, especially from Australia, have long dominated); the Second World War years when visiting American troops offered a new and affluent market; and the period ever since 1958 after the government raised the duty on beer, spirits, and imported wine, and restricted the importation of wine.
Significant developments in wine quality include the era of New Zealand’s first government viticulturist, Romeo bragato, who made improvements between 1895 and 1909 despite the ravages of phylloxera; the gradual replacement of american hybrids with European vinifera varieties from the late 1960s; the first vines planted in the Marlborough region in 1973; the founding of the official trade body the Wine Institute of New Zealand (now NZ Winegrowers) in 1975; the prohibition of wine dilution (as recently as 1983); and the Closer Economic Relations agreement with Australia, which, from 1990, forced New Zealand winemakers to compete against wines imported from Australia without the protection of tariffs.
Troughs in the economic fortunes of the wine industry are as common as peaks. Low points have included the damaging effect of the temperance movement between 1910 and 1919. New Zealand voted for national prohibition by a narrow margin in 1919 but the votes of returning servicemen tipped the balance. The post-war economic depression had a predictably adverse effect on the wine industry. As one winemaker put it, ‘We had to sell the grapes to get the money to buy the sugar to make the wine’ (see chaptalization). From 1945 to 1958 a flood of imports severely affected the viability of local winemaking and encouraged the industry to band together and lobby the government for relief, a move which ultimately resulted in significant protection. The rapid expansion of vineyards and a large harvest in 1983 led to a wine surplus, and heavy discounting in 1985 and 1986. The government intervened with a sponsored vine pull scheme in 1986, which meant that one-quarter of the country’s vines were uprooted.
Troughs in national wine quality occurred after powdery mildew first appeared in 1876, and after the identification of phylloxera in 1895. In most of the rest of the world, vine-growers chose immunity from this voracious root louse by grafting European grape varieties onto American phylloxera-resistant rootstocks. Their counterparts in New Zealand chose a second option: they simply planted phylloxera-resistant American hybrids. In 1960, the American isabella vine, nicknamed Albany Surprise, was New Zealand’s most widely planted grape variety.
Until 1881 wineries were not able to sell wine directly to the public but had to channel their produce through hotels, the country’s only liquor outlets. Both hotels and wineries had to sell a minimum of 9 l/2.4 gal to every customer. From 1955, specialist wine shops were allowed to sell single bottles of New Zealand table wine, although the allocation of licences was carefully controlled. In 1960, restaurants were allowed to sell wine. A byo licence was introduced in 1976 to allow diners to take their own wine to restaurants. Supermarkets were granted a licence to sell local and imported wine (but not beer or spirits) from 1990. Beer has been sold in supermarkets since 1999.
New Zealand- Geography and Climate
New Zealand grows the world’s most southerly grapes and, less significantly, the world’s most easterly, thanks to an adjacent dateline. A parallel is sometimes made between the southern latitudes of New Zealand’s wine regions and those of famous European regions. If New Zealand were in the northern hemisphere, the country would stretch from North Africa to Paris but the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream on European vineyards results in hotter growing conditions than in the vineyards of equivalent southern latitudes.
A broad climatic distinction can be made between the warmer North Island regions and those in the cooler South Island, although significant climatic differences exist within the five to six degree latitude span of each island. Under the imperfect heat summation measure of the daily average temperature above 10 °C/50 °F during the vine-growing season, New Zealand qualifies as Region I (along with bordeaux and burgundy). This system ignores diurnal and seasonal temperature variability, however, and the largely maritime climate of New Zealand is very different from the continental climate of Burgundy. Bordeaux, with its proximity to the sea, is a closer match, in climate at least, to the North Island region of Hawke’s Bay, which happens to produce New Zealand’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon.
New Zealand is a green and pleasant land thanks to abundant rainfall throughout most of the country. Plentiful rain promotes good pastures but it can have a negative effect on wine quality, particularly during the critical ripening period. Excessive moisture, through poorly drained soils or heavy rainfall, encourages leaf and shoot growth. Dense vine canopies tend to shade innermost leaves and grape bunches to produce green, herbaceous flavours, to delay ripening, and to promote fungal diseases. Excessive vine vigour was one of New Zealand’s major viticultural hindrances until Dr Richard Smart (this book’s viticulture editor) preached the gospel of canopy management during his tenure as government viticulturist between 1982 and 1990. As a result, many winemakers with vines that had produced excessively vegetal Cabernet Sauvignon reds and Sauvignon Blanc whites were able to make higher-quality wines within a single vintage of applying canopy management techniques. Some growers in the Marlborough region claimed that their harvest had been advanced by as much as seven days. Dr Smart’s canopy management techniques made by far the greatest contribution to improved New Zealand wine quality during the 1980s.
Chief preoccupation of New Zealand vine-growers in the 1990s was vineyard site selection. New Zealand viticulture was for many years centred on the principal city of Auckland, an important market with one-third of the country’s population. Between 1960 and 1983, wine production rose from 4.1 million l to 57.7 million l (15.2 million gal). New Zealand, it was claimed, had the fastest growing wine production in the world. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the flat, fertile Gisborne River valley usurped Auckland’s status as New Zealand’s largest wine region. High yields of often relatively lowly grapes such as müller-thurgau helped satisfy the nation’s thirst for fresh, fruity, and slightly sweet table wine. Later, as phylloxera devastated Gisborne’s grape crop and as demand for higher-quality wines increased, Hawke’s Bay became the country’s leading wine region. In 1990, Marlborough overtook Hawke’s Bay and 23 years later had more than five times Hawke’s Bay’s productive vineyard area.
New Zealand- Viticulture
New Zealand’s remote location has not, as it has done in chile, provided a barrier against the importation of vineyard pests and diseases. Phylloxera still threatens around one-tenth of the country’s vines which are planted on their own, ungrafted root while fanleaf degeneration and leafroll viruses have a detrimental effect on both the quality and quantity of the country’s grape crop. Both are symptoms of an industry which has grown faster than the availability of grafted rootstock and virus indexed vines (see indexing). Strict quarantine is of course enforced, and easily enforceable, on imported plant material.
As explained above, New Zealand has come to be regarded as a cradle of knowledge about canopy management techniques, and New Zealand viticulturists, like their winemaking colleagues, are able usefully to spend the New Zealand winter in northern hemisphere wine regions during their growing season. New Zealand’s harvest generally takes place from February to May (and sometimes as late as June in parts of Central Otago).
New Zealand’s vine-growers are free to irrigate and there are no restrictions on pruning or yields, which average about 70 hl/ha (3.6 tons/acre) nationally.
Much of the viticultural equipment has to be imported from Europe, but New Zealand technicians have even developed their own specialist equipment such as the Gallagher leaf-plucking machine (see leaf removal) and mechanized pruning equipment. As increasing attention is paid to the selection of vineyard sites (and land in New Zealand is relatively inexpensive), the wine industry may begin to reach its full potential. Flatlands viticulture is the norm in a country where land is plentiful, but wine prices now justify the additional expense and trouble involved in establishing hillside vineyards.
New Zealand- Vine Varieties
Sauvignon Blanc, the variety for which New Zealand established an international reputation, is the country’s most planted variety (20,027 ha/49,488 acres in 2014) with Pinot Noir a distant second (5,569 ha/13,761 acres). A significant percentage of the Pinot Noir crop is destined for sparkling wine production. Chardonnay is in third place (3,211 ha), followed closely by rising star, Pinot Gris (2,412 ha). Merlot has declined in the last decade (1,256 ha). Plantings of Riesling (787 ha), the sixth most planted variety, continue to grow slowly (they have declined from 968 ha in 2010 and the growth now is barely perceptible, unchanged since 2013) as the often slightly sweet and frequently very good wine made from it battles to lose its unfashionable image in the local market place. Other varieties planted on a total of more than 100 ha/250 acres are, in declining order, Syrah, Gewürztraminer (often spelt without the umlaut), Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc. All vine materials are screened for virus diseases by an official government-run agency, and the number of clones available from the country’s nurseries is considerably more limited than, for example, in Europe.
New Zealand- Winemaking
The youthful and dynamic New Zealand wine industry has been greatly influenced by Australia’s adelaide University, which provided training, and personnel, for many New Zealand winemakers. In recent years, however, local universities and technical institutes have begun to offer courses in viticulture and oenology. These include lincoln University, Blenheim Poly-Tech, Massey University, Hawke’s Bay Poly-Tech, and Gisborne Poly-Tech. Auckland University now offers an MSc in Wine Science. Traditional winemaking techniques from benchmark European wine regions have also been adopted, however. The country’s southern hemisphere location has had a positive effect on the development of wine styles and winemaking techniques. Many young New Zealand winemakers choose to work a second annual vintage in Europe and gain a wider perspective on the world of wine (see flying winemakers). A reverse migration of mostly young French winemakers has a similar effect.
The country’s isolation does have disadvantages, however, such as adding to the cost of importing highly fashionable new oak barriques from France (or at the very least from the nearest cooperage in Australia). An efficient domestic stainless steel industry, however, developed to serve New Zealand’s dairy industry, has provided economy and ingenuity in winery tank design.
Winemakers in New Zealand operate relatively free from regulatory constraint, with acidification, deacidification, and enrichment all permitted. It is a remarkable tribute to the ambitions of the industry, especially abroad, that overall wine quality is as high as it is.
In 2001, a small number of winemakers adopted the screwcap as a closure instead of traditional cork. They created an organization The Screwcap Initiative to assist members with any technical aspects of application and to promote the new seal to an often sceptical market locally and in export markets. Twelve years later, 99% of all New Zealand wine bottles were sealed with a screwcap.
New Zealanders for long tended to worship the winemaker rather than the vineyard, although interest in subregions, notably in Marlborough and Central Otago, is fast increasing. This new world phenomenon is in direct contrast to the French view of the primacy of terroir. A decade or two will no doubt reveal the ephemeral nature of winemakers and the permanence of geography, but until that time, New Zealand winemakers will continue to be revered by an adoring domestic public.
New Zealand- Industry Organisation
The youthful and dynamic New Zealand wine industry has been greatly influenced by Australia’s adelaide University, which provided training, and personnel, for many New Zealand winemakers. In recent years, however, local universities and technical institutes have begun to offer courses in viticulture and oenology. These include lincoln University, Blenheim Poly-Tech, Massey University, Hawke’s Bay Poly-Tech, and Gisborne Poly-Tech. Auckland University now offers an MSc in Wine Science. Traditional winemaking techniques from benchmark European wine regions have also been adopted, however. The country’s southern hemisphere location has had a positive effect on the development of wine styles and winemaking techniques. Many young New Zealand winemakers choose to work a second annual vintage in Europe and gain a wider perspective on the world of wine (see flying winemakers). A reverse migration of mostly young French winemakers has a similar effect.
The country’s isolation does have disadvantages, however, such as adding to the cost of importing highly fashionable new oak barriques from France (or at the very least from the nearest cooperage in Australia). An efficient domestic stainless steel industry, however, developed to serve New Zealand’s dairy industry, has provided economy and ingenuity in winery tank design.
Winemakers in New Zealand operate relatively free from regulatory constraint, with acidification, deacidification, and enrichment all permitted. It is a remarkable tribute to the ambitions of the industry, especially abroad, that overall wine quality is as high as it is.
In 2001, a small number of winemakers adopted the screwcap as a closure instead of traditional cork. They created an organization The Screwcap Initiative to assist members with any technical aspects of application and to promote the new seal to an often sceptical market locally and in export markets. Twelve years later, 99% of all New Zealand wine bottles were sealed with a screwcap.
New Zealanders for long tended to worship the winemaker rather than the vineyard, although interest in subregions, notably in Marlborough and Central Otago, is fast increasing. This new world phenomenon is in direct contrast to the French view of the primacy of terroir. A decade or two will no doubt reveal the ephemeral nature of winemakers and the permanence of geography, but until that time, New Zealand winemakers will continue to be revered by an adoring domestic public.
New Zealand- Marlborough
Marlborough is by far the biggest of New Zealand’s wine regions. Industry giant Montana (see brancott estate ) planted the first vines in Marlborough when it established the South Island’s first commercial vineyard in 1973. At the time it seemed an enormous gamble but after the vines reached full production Montana’s investment returned a handsome dividend in terms of quality and profit. Other producers soon followed to establish wineries in the region or to secure a supply of grapes for the 18-hour journey north to Auckland or Gisborne. The single wine that put Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on the international map was cloudy bay, in 1985. Since 1989, winemakers based outside the region have been able to use the services of a growing number of custom crush facilities to process grapes into juice or wine which can then be transported in bulk with less risk of extracting astringent phenolics from grape skins. The availability of contract winemaking facilities has encouraged an increasing number of vine-growers to process part or all of their crop into wine for sale under their own label.
Marlborough, at the north eastern tip of the South Island, consists of a large, flat, river valley with deep deposits of silt and gravel. A number of soil patterns are found throughout the valley and even within single vineyards, leading to significant variations in quality and style depending on the grape source. Shallow, stony soils, which aid drainage and limit fertility, are favoured for high-quality wine production although some of the region’s best Pinot Noir is from heavier, clay-rich soils at the base of the Wither Hills. Irrigation is widely used throughout the valley to establish vines in the sometimes arid, free-draining soils and to relieve vine stress during the typically dry Marlborough summer. Many of Marlborough’s best wines are made from irrigated grapes, which, it is claimed, would have suffered a loss in quality if the vines were forced to rely on a natural supply of ground water. Three subregions are now gaining increased recognition. The northern Wairau Valley’s lighter, stonier soils tend to make riper and often more pungent wines. The Southern Valley’s richer soils produce richer and more concentrated wines, while the cooler, lower-cropping Awatere Valley would be the country’s second-largest if it were a region in its own right.
Sauvignon Blanc is Marlborough’s best-known and most planted variety. These pungent, aromatic wines that blend tropical fruit flavours with gooseberry and capsicum herbaceousness are regarded as representative of New Zealand’s national wine style. The scramble to meet growing world demand for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc combined with an unexpectedly bloated 2008 crop resulted in a drop in grape, vineyard land, and export prices causing financial hardship for many producers. Sauvignon Blanc accounts for more than 80% of the country’s exports while Marlborough has nearly 90% of the country’s vines. In the early years of this century Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc enjoyed particular success in Australia where it captured 40% of the white wine market, to the annoyance of local wine producers. Marlborough Pinot Noir has overtaken Chardonnay to become the region’s second most planted grape variety, and a small but growing proportion of the Marlborough Pinot and Chardonnay crop is used in traditional method sparkling wine production. Pinot Gris, whose NZ wines tend to follow the richer Alsace style than the Italian Pinot Grigio model, has risen rapidly to follow closely in Chardonnay’s wake, although growth appears to have tapered off. Riesling is another very successful Marlborough vine variety, reaching its apogee as a sweet, luscious, botrytis-affected dessert wine. botrytized wines can be produced here most years although the results vary considerably with vintage conditions.
New Zealand- Hawke’s Bay
around the town of Napier is one of New Zealand’s older wine regions and certainly one of the best. Complex soil patterns and mesoclimates make it difficult to generalize about the wines of such a diverse region, particularly when they are made by such an eclectic group of winemakers. Situated on the east coast of the North Island, 215 km/130 miles south of Gisborne and 323 km/194 miles north of Wellington, Hawke’s Bay frequently records the country’s highest sunshine hours. The terrain varies from coastal ranges that rise to 1600 m/5,300 ft to wide, fertile plains consisting of alluvial and gravelly soils. A high water table and fertile soils can result in excessive vine vigour over much of the plains. In other parts of the region, deep, well-drained gravel soils encourage water stress and many vines require irrigation during long, dry periods. In pursuit of wine quality, vineyards were established on free-draining soils of lower fertility, at least from the mid 1980s. For ease of cultivation, vines have been almost exclusively planted on flat land, despite the allure of nearby limestone hills which may offer superior aspect and drainage. A collective of local grape growers and winemakers has identified an approximate 800 ha of deep shingle soils as an ideal area for the production of high-quality wines, particularly Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The defined area has been named Gimblett Gravels, a district name that now appears on some of Hawke’s Bay’s better red wines.
Chardonnay and Merlot are the most planted Hawke’s Bay varieties, with Sauvignon Blanc close behind. The best Hawke’s Bay reds are a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, often with Cabernet Franc and/or Malbec playing a supporting role. They have intense berry and cassis flavours, often with a gently herbaceous reminder of their moderately cool climate origin and, sometimes, strong oak influence from up to two years’ maturation in new French barriques. The exalted status of bordeaux blends is being tested by a small but rapidly expanding volume of Syrah, which at its best can perform with distinction. Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay may lack the seductive charm of the Gisborne equivalent but the best have intense citrus flavours and a brooding elegance that are seldom matched by the wines of other regions. Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc is a softer, fleshier wine than the better-known Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. It often has a nectarine or stone fruit character, a useful indicator of regional identity.
New Zealand- Central Otago
Central Otago grows New Zealand’s, and the world’s, most southerly grapevines, some of them cultivated south of the 45th parallel. It is New Zealand’s only wine region with a continental climate, providing greater diurnal and seasonal temperature variability than any other. Most Central Otago vines are planted on hillside vineyards to give better sun exposure and reduce frost risk. No other New Zealand wine region is as dependent on a single grape variety. Pinot Noir represents nearly 75% of the region’s vines with Pinot Gris a distant second and Riesling in third place; this is one of New Zealand’s very few Sauvignon Blanc-free zones. The growth in vineyard area, and development of new districts within the larger region, have been extraordinary. The now crowded valley at Gibbston was, with Wanaka, one of the orginal areas to be planted with vines as recently as the early 1980s. Bannockburn is widely regarded as the most successful district although subsequently planted vineyards in the Cromwell/Bendigo and Alexandra districts may challenge Bannockburn’s crown. Central Otago’s often voluptuous and intensely fruity Pinot Noir has helped put New Zealand red wine on the world map. The wines from this youthful and very experimental area have evolved rapidly in quality with potential for further gain.
New Zealand- Gisborne
Total plantings in this east coast North Island region peaked in 2009, not least because of its dependence on once-popular Chardonnay when Pernod Ricard NZ decided that the future lay in Sauvignon Blanc. Gisborne Chardonnay is certainly the country’s most distinctive regional example of the variety, with soft and charming fruit flavours that often resemble ripe peach, pineapple, and melon. Gewürztraminer is Gisborne’s other claim to vinous fame. Pernod Ricard NZ sold off its large Gisborne winery and cancelled grape contracts there. Most Gisborne grapes are grown by farmers who sell them to wineries under long-term contract, or to the highest bidder. Several Auckland wineries buy Gisborne grapes and ship juice or wine to avoid extraction of unwanted phenolics that might result from shipping grapes.
At the other end of the production scale are many small lifestyle wineries that make only premium bottled table wine or traditional method sparkling wines. They include Millton Vineyards, New Zealand’s first certified organic winery, which now produces grapes and wine according to the principles of biodynamics.
New Zealand- Canterbury/Waipara
Canterbury, around Christchurch on the central east coast of the South Island, represents a collection of mostly small and very diverse subregions. Waipara, one hour’s drive north of Christchurch, is by far the largest while each of Banks Peninsula to the east of the city, the plains west of Christchurch, the Cheviot Hills 40 minutes north of Waipara, and the limestone-rich Waikari Basin 15 minutes north west of Waipara have just a few producers each or, in the case of Cheviot Hills, a single winery. The region is cool and dry with a moderate risk of October and April frosts. Low rainfall and light soils of moderate fertility help control vine vigour and canopy here. Viticultural research at lincoln has had a considerable influence on selecting suitable vine varieties for the local growing conditions and in assisting local growers with viticultural techniques. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are, yet again, the region’s most planted varieties, with Pinot Gris in third place.
New Zealand- Nelson
Nelson is the South Island’s most northerly wine region, nearly two hours’ drive across high ranges from Marlborough. The rolling hills of Nelson rise from a scenic coastline to form a beautiful setting for the region’s 38 wineries. Sauvignon Blanc has overtaken Chardonnay to become the region’s main grape variety, thanks to world demand for this varietal. Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are second and third respectively with Chardonnay a distant fourth. The varied topography of Nelson makes it difficult to generalize about weather and soils, although records show that the region is slightly cooler and wetter than the Marlborough average.
New Zealand- Wairarapa/Martinborough
Wairarapa, which includes the Martinborough region, is at the southern end of the North Island about one hour’s drive from the nation’s capital, Wellington. In 2012, Wairarapa had less than 3% of the country’s vines but 9% of its winemakers. They are typically small-scale, lifestyle producers with a quality-at-all-costs attitude to winemaking and a passionate faith in their region’s potential. Pinot Noir occupies half the region’s vineyard area and is undoubtedly the flagship wine. In their quest to make great wine, most producers crop their vines so that yields are considerably below the national average, a significant factor in the region’s success. In terms of topography, climate, and soils, Wairarapa might easily be considered a miniature Marlborough, were it not for the region’s ability to make top-quality reds on a regular basis.
New Zealand- Auckland
Auckland, the largest city, gives its name to the one New Zealand wine region where winery visitors can be assured of finding wines made from grapes grown as far south as Canterbury in the South Island, and are more likely to be offered wine from Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay than the product of a local vineyard. Auckland viticulture declined during the rapid growth of Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, and Marlborough through the 1970s and 1980s but began to grow in the 1990s as grape-growers adopted canopy-thinning techniques to correct vine vigour. New subregions, including Clevedon, Matakana, and especially Waiheke Island, where some very fine bordeaux blends are made, are now producing high-quality and highly fashionable reds which have helped raise Auckland’s profile and esteem as a wine region.
New Zealand- Northland
Northland, at the very northern tip of the country, was the birthplace of New Zealand wine. The region’s warm, wet, temperate climate has proved to be a barrier to good-quality wine production, particularly on the wetter west coast. Modern viticultural methods and careful site selection have allowed several producers to establish relatively rot-resistant varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah with promising results.
New Zealand- Waitaki
On limestone in North Otago was rapidly being developed in the mid 2000s. That development has slowed although the quality of Waitaki’s Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris may stimulate further growth.
What wine in 1983 made the world look to New Zealand?
Montana Sauvignon Blanc. Although planted in 1979, 1983 was the first vintage to make people stand up.
In 1985 a crazy Aussie called David Hohnen did what?
He made the first wines from a little winery called Cloudy Bay
What is the soils of Nelson on the South Island?
High amounts of Blue clay in Nelson, infertile stoney- schist soils. More limestone content, which provides a lot more pH. There is more linear tones in the wines due to these qualities.
