MARY SHANAHAN
Hawke's Bay's wine country is growing, with the area in producing vineyard up by 10 percent this year.
According to figures just released by New Zealand Winegrowers, the region had 3873ha in producing vineyard last year.
In the last 12 months, that increased to 4229ha, although the proportion of national producing
area dropped from 22 to 21 percent.
Next year, the area of producing vineyard in Hawke's Bay is estimated to increase by eight percent. The growth is expected to reduce in succeeding years, with a three percent increase forecast for 2007 and one percent for 2008.
The region's membership of New Zealand Winegrowers is at an all-time high - 62 this year, compared with 58 in 2004 and 24 10 years ago.
Hawke's Bay accounts for 168 of 825 growers nationwide.
