Archives

31 July 2014

New Zealand Wine

New Zealand Wines - An Introduction
Despite being probably the most isolated first world nation on the planet, New Zealand is surprisingly a huge exporter of wine. With similar lines of latitude to Australian & Argentine wine regions, New Zealand has unique mesoclimates which are known as the 11 wine regions of New Zealand.


The 11 Wine Regions in New Zealand
There are 11 wine regions in New Zealand, within an area of around 1,000 miles, covering the whole of the country. They are (from North to South):

Northland
Auckland
Waikato
Bay of Plenty
Gisborne
Hawke's Bay
Wellington
Nelson
Marlborough
Canterbury
Central Otago

History of New Zealand Wine
The first known instance of winemaking in New Zealand was in 1836. James Busby, one of the drafters of the Declaration of New Zealand’s Independence, was a keen winemaker, and is seen as the “Father of Australian Wine”. Ironically, despite owning property in Australia, he never grew wines in Australia, but grew his wine in Waitangi, in the North Land.

The oldest existing vineyard in New Zealand was set up in 1851, in a church in Hawke’s Bay. However, due to the lack of popularity for wines in Great Britain (New Zealand’s biggest target exporter), they didn’t sell well. Furthermore, introduction of viticultural knowledge from Dalmatia meant that wines were not produced, instead sherry and port were the tipples made in the New Zealand wine regions.

As such, the New Zealand Wine industry was pretty stagnant up until 1973. The United Kingdom entered the EEC, and as such imported much of its meat and dairy products from Europe, instead of New Zealand. A lot of agriculture was lost, and had to be replaced by something, that something was wines. Furthermore, laxer licensing laws were introduced, and the beginning of young Oceanic travellers visiting Europe for gap years en masse begun. As such, many of them stayed in wine related regions, and quaffed quite a bit!

In the late 1970′s, Marlborough wines became popular with a grape brought from France. Sauvignon Blanc thrived in the vineyards located in the North East of the South Island, more so than in France, where the grape was masked with other grapes to form blends (such as Vin de Pays). Wine critics around the world lauded the Sauvignon Blanc from the new world, and in the last 30 years, the popularity of New Zealand wines have grown and grown.

New Zealand Red Wine
New Zealand Red Wine are usually either a blend of red grapes, or based on one grape – Pinot Noir. With the early success of Sauvignon Blanc, many New Zealand wine producers, wanting to try something different, plonked on trying the red derivative of Sauvignon Blanc: Cabernet Sauvignon. Unfortunately, the grape struggled in the cooler climates, and it produced distinctly average wines. As such, New Zealand wine producers switched to a grape that thrived on the cooler climate – Merlot – and began mixing blends base on this grape.

Cabernet Sauvignon did have a future in New Zealand, as areas such as Bay of Plenty, where it was a lot warmer and drier, began producing wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon, which have flourished.

Pinot Noir was another grape that struggled to find a home. Grown in the wrong part of New Zealand for years, it was believed that they got the growth cycle spot on in Auckland. However, they then realised they planted the wrong grape! It was only when the grape was planted in the south of the country, particularly in Canterbury, that New Zealand Pinot Noir became popular, in particular the Morton Estates Pinot Noir.

New Zealand White Wine
In terms of New Zealand White Wine, there are two main grapes that are grown. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Chardonnay is produced in areas which are nearer the north of the country such as Hawkes Bay Chardonnay, where the climate is warmer to grow the grape. The Hawkes Bay Chardonnay however stands out as by and large producers from the country use oak, rather than metallic, barrels to ferment the wine.

Towards the south, Sauvignon Blanc was grown. The grape thrived in the chillier conditions, even more than in its native France. Soon, wine fans & critics discovered the beauty of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and it became a huge commercial success. In fact, the centre of the New Zealand wine industry is located in Marlborough, with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc considered to be some of the best in the world.