New Zealand Wines

Grapevines planted in the 1800’s by European colonists flourish in this new land. Many New Zealand wines garner honours at international wine award ceremonies with pinot noir and sauvignon blanc varietals singled out as outstanding.

Marlborough in the South Island is the largest wine-producing region, then there’s Hawke’s Bay, Martinborough and Wairapa, Gisborne, Nelson, Canterbury, Otago and Auckland.

New Zealand wines can, of course, be appreciatively imbibed alone or allowed to liberate and enhance the flavours of New Zealand’s unique gastronomic sensations - from native foods like wild pig and kumara steamed deep in the very earth itself in the Maori hangi tradition through to experimental haute cuisine.

New Zealand’s food and wine harmonies are legend-making. Central Otago Pinot Noir with Canterbury lamb, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with world-famous Bluff oysters Martinborough Pinot Gris with Lake Ohau salmon - such complements are heaven-sent.

Visits to wineries mean tastings and there are so many excellent wineries to choose from - consider Wairau River in Marlborough, with its Gold Medal sauvignon blancs. Plane trees line the majestic driveway surrounded by the Rapaura vineyards, first planted in 1978.

Handcrafted wine from a tapestry of soils grown in harmony with nature is the signature philosophy behind Matariki Wines in the Hawke’s Bay. Here merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec and syrah are nurtured along with sauvignon blanc.Combine a cave tour, lunch, tasting and tour - and a little wine and gift shopping at Gibbston Valley Wines in Central Otago. One of New Zealand's leading food and wine experiences, it has an outstanding reputation world-wide for pinot noir and chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling and pinot blanc.

An Australian wine critic exclaimed the wines from Neudorf Vineyards affinity for texture, density and balance, ‘the result of brilliantly-conceived grape-growing’. Here you can taste some the finest wines in the Southern Hemisphere under the beautiful landscape and wide blue sky of Nelson.

No matter whether you target one wine-growing area and visit only one or two wineries or explore a little of all, New Zealand wines will seductively raise your wine standards.