In a UK wine market where consumers pay a fraction over £4 for French wines and not much more for Australian wines, where ‘3 for 10’ and ‘buy one get one free’ deals are the norm rather than the exception, New Zealand is a bit of an odd one out.

New Zealand manages to bring in a very respectable £5.90 - £6 per bottle in for its tiny production volumes. It hardly manages the top 30! Looking at the country does help at explaining why good New Zealand wines are not cheap. Winemaking is at the fringes here in a cold and wet country with the southernmost vineyards in the world. That means they grow cool-climate varieties like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir very successfully and in inimitable style. Chardonnay produces some fresh minerally examples and Riesling and Pinot Gris (the French spelling is used more frequently in New Zealand denoting a more Alsatian style) are definitely in the lift.

Winemaking is small scale here, with the average holding just over a hundred acres and lifestyle wineries are all the rage. This coupled with the challenging climate means a lot of time has to be spent in the vineyards to ensure a high standard of quality. Combine this with fickle grapes, such as Pinot Noir and it is clear grape growing is far from easy at this, one of the remotest wine regions in the world.

So what makes it worth an average spend of £6? For that we have to go back a few decades to the mid eighties and a vineyard in Marlborough called Cloudy Bay. This is the wine that put New Zealand firmly on the wine map with a rip-roaring success of a Sauvignon Blanc. The crisp acidity, clean, razor sharp gooseberry fruit flavours were entirely new and unknown in the old world. The region, located on the north eastern tip of the south island quickly established itself as a very reliable source of crisp, clean Sauvignon Blanc and the rest of the world, although the UK and the USA in particular, couldn’t get enough of it. A star was born. Fast forward to today and the Sauvignon Blanc bandwagon is still going strong, but far from being a one-trick pony Pinot Noir has now become the second most planted variety in New Zealand and examples from Martinborough on the north island and Central Otago, way down on the south island and sheltered by the southern alps to the west, are very much sought after for similar reasons. Razor sharp, fresh fruit as well as depth of flavour.

Soils are relatively young in this part of the world and that normally means too fertile. Cleverly the New Zealanders very quickly worked out which soils were most suited to grape growing and many of the vineyards are on gravel or loess soils, often on dried up riverbeds. Smaller pockets of limestone are also found, not dissimilar to the Cote d’Or in Burgundy. No wonder Chardonnay and Pinot Noir thrive here.
One small region is notable for its similarity to the Graves in Bordeaux. It is a tiny area with poor, very well-drained, gravelly soils, known as Gimblett Gravels located on the north island in the Hawke’s Bay region. It will come as no surprise that Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon do particularly well here as does Syrah.
The coolness of the climate does cause problems in ripening (Marlborough has an average temperature of 17.7 degrees in January, lower than Sancerre in France) but here also have the winemakers found the solution, now so commonplace the wine world over. Canopy management was first practiced by Dr Richard Smart in the 1980’s. He was then the state viticulturist and had a major influence in where grapes were planted, but also the most suitable clones for climate and soil types and the best way to train the vines to ensure optimum ripening. Together with David Hohnen, who started Cloudy Bay, he is largely responsible for the quality image of New Zealand wines.

These days many producers are keen to ensure the quality image is not eroded and although the production is dominated by Pernod Ricard New Zealand, owners of Montana (UK) and Brancott Estate (US) amongst many other labels, even these relatively large volume brands manage to keep the quality high and the flavours unmistakably New Zealand.
The country is also at the forefront of environmental friendliness with an attempt to introduce a countrywide system of sustainable winemaking with set minimum standards to adhere to. Although that doesn’t go way far enough for some, it’s more than most other winemaking countries are currently doing. The trade organisation; New Zealand Winegrowers is at pains to point out that despite the distance the wine has to travel to its export markets, it travels by sea, one of the most environmentally friendly means. Many wineries are now taking all this in consideration to ensure their production is as much as possible carbon neutral.

It is the progressive stance the country takes as a whole as well as its meticulous attention to quality and its ability to reinvent itself and keep up with much bigger markets that keeps New Zealand in a higher price bracket than any of its competitors.

This article was written in preparation for the unit 3 exams (light wines of the world), WSET Diploma.

Producers to try:

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. If you can find it! They also produce a Chardonnay which seems to be easier to come by and Pelorus, the sparkling wine also comes from this stable.

Pinot Noir from Martinborough, look out for Murdoch James and Martinborough Vineyard (also produces Burnt Spur)

Craggy Range in Hawke's Bay produces incredibly concentrated wines from Syrah. Look out for Lone Range at M&S, which is produced by Craggy Range but at a much keener price. See Panel Tasting Winter Warmers for the tasting note.
 

Villa Maria also produces a very accessible range of wines from New Zealand's diverse regions, particularly in Marlborough, it's home territory where it produces good Sauvignon Blanc but also Gewurztraminer in an Alsatian style.