It felt like every second person with spare cash was rushing to buy land and plant grapevines. The wine industry was basking in overseas attention, especially for the strikingly aromatic, punchy sauvignon blancs from Marlborough. That was the 1990s – but what’s happening now?
According to New Zealand Wine-growers’ Annual Report 2023, trends are positive. We are the world’s sixth-largest wine exporter in value, rather than volume, terms. New Zealand is “the most export-focused of all the world’s wine industries, with close to 90% of sales occurring outside our home market.”
That’s great, because the domestic market is shrinking fast. Our consumption of New Zealand wine has plummeted from 15.2 litres per person in 2011 to 8.3 litres in 2023. Since 2014, the number of wine producers in the Auckland region has tumbled from 114 to 93. Only in the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions have the ranks of winegrowers shown significant expansion.
That’s surprising, since over the past decade, Gisborne’s vineyard area has contracted by 32% and Hawke’s Bay’s has expanded by just 1%. Have specialist growers, struggling to sell their grapes, felt compelled to leap into wine production? Only Marlborough (up 29%) and to a much lesser extent Central Otago (up 6%) have seen any significant expansion of planted areas.
So, which grape varieties have winegrowers been planting over the past decade? Sauvignon blanc, naturally, with its area up by 35%. Pinot gris has expanded by 14%. However, pinot noir has barely shifted (up just 3%). Two other prestigious varieties have declined in their planted area – chardonnay, by 5%, and merlot, by 20%.
Fortunately, the value of our wine exports in the year ended June 30 soared by 23% to a record $2.4 billion. These figures reflect strong demand, but also the bumper sauvignon blanc crop last year (394,000 tonnes) after a small harvest (268,000 tonnes) in 2021.
Our overwhelming export reliance on sauvignon blanc must be a strategic risk. In the year to June 2023, sauvignon blanc accounted for 89% by volume of our wine exports, followed distantly by pinot gris (3.3%) and pinot noir (2.9%).
Let’s hope Americans stay in love with Marlborough sauvignon blanc. Export growth in the past year was led by a 25% leap in the value of wine shipments to the US, reaching $870 million, well ahead of the UK ($537 million), Australia ($443 million), Canada ($146 million) and Germany ($71 million).
Wine of the week
Main Divide Pinot Noir 2021
★★★★½
Grown mostly in North Canterbury, Pegasus Bay’s fine value red is invitingly scented, full-bodied and smooth, with cherry, plum and spice flavours, showing excellent depth, complexity and harmony. (13.5% alc/vol) $27
