New Zealand | Wine Terms

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New Zealand

Although New Zealand had vineyards and produced wines as far back as 1819, it didn’t have a reputation for making high-quality TABLE WINES until recently. It’s essentially been a nation of beer drinkers, and the wine it did produce was usually FORTIFIED. Many of New Zealand’s grapes were HYBRIDS but, starting in the mid1960s, winemakers gradually began to experiment with European varieties like CHARDONNAY. What resulted was a rapid expansion of vineyards producing VITIS VINIFERA wines, with New Zealand wine-makers determining they had better success with white wines. The clincher, and what put New Zealand on wine consumers’ radar, was the success with SAUVIGNON BLANC—first from Montana, New Zealand’s largest wine company, and then, on an even more dramatic scale, from Cloudy Bay Vineyards. About two-thirds of the country’s vineyards are planted to white varieties. MÜLLER-THURGAU, which was the most widely planted white grape a decade ago, has been surpassed by a number of higher-quality grape varieties. Chardonnay is the most widely planted followed by SAUVIGNON BLANC, PINOT NOIR, MERLOT, CABERNET SAUVIGNON, and RIESLING. New Zealand’s most highly regarded wines are Sauvignon Blancs, followed by Chardonnay, sweet DESSERT WINES (from BOTRITISED Riesling grapes), and SPARKLING WINES from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Because of New Zealand’s cool climate, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blends lean toward being slightly HERBACEOUS. Pinot Noir is gaining ground as producers discover that it’s not only good for SPARKLING WINES, but also as STILL WINE. There are currently ten recognized growing areas. New Zealand’s North Island—the first of the islands to produce wines—has growing regions in AUCKLAND, GISBORNE, HAWKE’SBAY, NORTHLAND, WAIKATO, and WELLINGTON. The South Island has growing areas in MARLBOROUGH, CANTERBURY, CENTRAL OTAGO, and NELSON. Marlborough surpassed the North Island’s Hawke’s Bay as the largest growing area primarily owing to its successful Sauvignon Blanc cultivation. Gisborne is the third-largest producing area in the country. These three growing regions comprise 80 percent of New Zealand’s vineyard acreage. Although New Zealand has attained a certain stature in the wine world, it’s still a fairly small producer in the global picture. It has yet to move into being one of the top thirty wine-producing nations in the world—but it’s a country with fewer than four million people.

Related Links: Pinot Gris, Marlborough, table wine, fortification, hybrid

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