The harvest is in full swing in New Zealand. The whole wine industry hopes and believes that the 2022 harvest will be larger than last year. Demand for New Zealand wines is high, and stocks are beginning to look empty.
2021 was an excellent year in quality, but the volume was 19% down from 2020. New Zealand sold 324 million litres of wine in 2021, which means 48 million litres more than it produced that year. It has eroded the stocks.
In 2021, New Zealand had a vineyard area of 41,603 hectares. Red grapes are planted on 7,851 hectares and white on 33,752 hectares.
Marlborough is still the largest wine region with 29,415 ha, and sauvignon blanc is the most important grape with 26,559 ha, corresponding to 64% of the total vineyard area. Pinot noir is the most planted red grape. Then comes a long line of grapes that have been shown to thrive really well, either on the North Island or the South Island.
New Zealand producers make exciting wines from riesling, pinot gris, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, gewürztraminer, merlot and many other grapes.
Read more: NZ Wine
Travel: Join us in New Zealand on the wine tour in March 2023!
