New Zealand Pinot Noir

New Zealand is now acknowledged as one of the few countries to have successfully come to grips with this fickle, but supremely aristocratic grape variety. The temperate climate and long sunshine hours have combined with winemaker passion and skill to produce world-class, highly sought-after Pinot Noir.
 

Origins of Pinot Noir in New Zealand

Pinot Noir first appeared in the Auckland region during the mid 1970s and within a decade was being produced in Martinborough (in the Wellington region) and Hawkes Bay, plus most regions in the South Island. Early competition successes from Canterbury and Martinborough Pinot Noir, as well as the demand for Pinot Noir as a component in high quality bottle-fermented sparkling wine, has now made this varietal the most widely planted red grape in the country and one of New Zealand’s most prestigious and acclaimed wine styles. More »

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is acclaimed throughout the world as the definitive benchmark style for the varietal. Its exuberant, pungent flavours have dazzled wine critics everywhere. Oz Clarke summed up the impact of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in his Wine Atlas when he wrote, “No previous wine had shocked, thrilled, entranced the world before with such brash, unexpected flavours of gooseberries, passionfruit and lime, or crunchy green asparagus spears . . . an entirely new, brilliantly successful wine style that the rest of the world has been attempting to copy ever since”.

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