South pips North for wine capital honours

The Christchurch bid, backed by Central Otago, Marlborough and Waipara Valley, won judges over. Photo / Supplied

It's the South Island 1, North Island 0, in the quest to be a great wine capital of the world, but the northern challenger insists there are no sour grapes towards its southern rival.

Bids from both islands were put forward to join the elite ranks of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network, alongside prestigious wine-producing regions such as Bordeaux, France, and San Francisco/Napa Valley, USA.

Christchurch, backed by the wine growing areas of Waipara Valley, Marlborough and Central Otago, proved successful in winning admission to the exclusive club, while Hastings, backed by Hawkes Bay, missed out.

Only one region from each country can join the global network. Those behind the Christchurch bid will accept the invitation to join at the network's annual general meeting next month.

The backers of the Hastings-Hawkes Bay bid say it is disappointing to miss out on inclusion, and the premier tourism advantages that come with it, but it simply did not have everything the judges were looking for.

In a letter to the northern bidders, Catherine Leparmentier, permanent secretary of the Great Wine Capitals (GWC) Global Network said Hastings-Hawkes Bay would be a great member of a wine regions organisation, however "we must keep in mind that the GWC is a network of cities".

"We thought we could find some way to overpass this, but we finally had to reckon that it was not possible," Ms Leparmentier wrote.

"You can be very proud of the quality Hawkes Bay offers its visitors. The magnificence of the sceneries and the kindness of the people make it a very attaching and memorable region. And of course, the excellent quality of wine produced there absolutely deserves the international recognition they receive now."

Rod McDonald, chairman of the Hawkes Bay Winegrowers Association, said while the region had missed out, the important bigger picture was that "New Zealand is on the playing field with these other great wine regions of the world".

"There's no sour grapes, if you'll excuse the pun," Mr McDonald said.

"We would much rather see that they've endorsed a New Zealand city than not looked at New Zealand at all. We'll get benefit out of it."

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said joining the network was a "dream come true in a marketing sense", and gave the South Island's wine country an international "stamp of credibility".

"There is always that parochial southern satisfaction at pulling something like this off in that light-hearted Kiwi context of the north versus south. But this is all about New Zealand."