New Zealand wines are wines unlike any other. This is because they are grown from New Zealand where the Climate, Soil, and water contribute to its unique taste. With similar lines of latitude to Australia’s and Argentina’s wine regions, it offers its vineyards the same maritime climate. The sea controls the climate creating warmer clearer days and cooler nights due to the sea breeze. This also means that the vineyards benefit from hot summers and cooler winters overall creating a slow ripening environment, and therefore a unique taste.

New Zealand’s Wine Production started as late as the 1970s, as before this there where only a few vineyards and little grapes were planted on the island. New Zealand now has eleven main growing wine regions and these are scattered throughout the country. Because of the length of New Zealand, all of its wine growing regions differ in environmental and climate changes. This means that different wines can be grown in different regions and harvested throughout a variation of about eight weeks, with a result of some different tastes from the same grapes.

There are eleven main growing wine regions in New Zealand, which are marked upon the map above. From North to South they are

  1. Northland
  2. Auckland
  3. Waikato
  4. Bay of Plenty
  5. Gisborne
  6. Hawke’s Bay
  7. Wellington
  8. Nelson
  9. Marlborough
10. Canterbury
11. Central Otago

Hawkes Bay covers 1.4 million hectors and 350km of the Pacific Ocean coastline. This region is the second largest wine growing region in New Zealand. The soil here consists of 25 different soil types from clay loam, to limestone, to sands, and free draining gravels and red metal. These soils have formed over thousands of years due to five major rivers which have moved and formed valleys and terraces, to create the different soils. In Hawkes Bay the altitude varies from sea level to several hundred metres high further inland. Ripening dates within this area for one wine can vary by 4 weeks.

Hawkes Bay Chardonnay is a very popular wine produced from here, and it has 30% of New Zealand’s total producing area. Hawkes Bays chardonnay is a rich complex wine with distinctive flavours of citrus and oaks. Hawkes Bay Chardonnay is popular when fermented and aged in oak barrels. Hawkes Bay is also popular among certain New Zealand Red Wine because of its lengthy sunshine hours. This is ideal for later ripening red grapes such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah, so these grapes are also widely grown and produced in Hawkes Bay.

Marlborough wines are extremely popular and the region currently has 23,600 hectors of land planted with grapes. Most of these planting are situated in the Wairau valley. Marlborough is the largest wine producing region within New Zealand and counts for 79% of New Zealand’s total active wine production. Marlborough is one of New Zealand’s sunniest and driest areas, this bright region combined with a cool sea climate creates a slow, ripening period which intensifies the flavours.

Sauvignon Blanc is most famously grown in Marlborough. New Zealand’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is wine unlike any other. Marlborough today is most famous for its Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc stealing its title from France. It is crisp, and is medium to high in acidity to cleanse the pallet, combined with a grassy, herby, and gooseberry flavours. It also has aromas of grapefruit, freshly cut grass, and green melon. Wine critics have said that Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is best grown in the Marlborough region of New Zealand and that no other country could match its taste.