7 things you didn't know about New Zealand wine

Kiwi winemakers love sharing their stories and first-class drops. From boutique wineries to the bigger players, no two wineries are alike.

Like us, our mates across the ditch make some of the finest wine on the planet.

Kiwi winemakers love sharing their stories and first-class drops. From boutique wineries to the bigger players, no two wineries are alike.

Word of caution: Don't fall for their trash talk. Aussies originated flat whites, lamingtons and Crowded House. We're gracious enough to give them the pavlova.

There's something about Sauvignon

A stunning vineyard in Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand.

It's the grape that made New Zealand a wine superstar. It makes up more than two thirds of the nation's wine planting. The Marlborough region is a sea of Sauvignon Blanc, making it the world's biggest producer of this much-loved white wine. An awful lot of Aussies think Sauvignon Blanc is the bomb; for others, not so much. Let's say that for some savvy drinkers, SB draws a Blanc.

It was an Aussie who started the Sauvignon Blanc phenomenon

Cloudy Bay wine is a popular drop in New Zealand.

After studying wine-making and viticulture in California, David Hohnen established Margaret River's Cape Mentelle. He won successive Jimmy Watson Trophies and put Margaret River on the world wine map.

In 1983, after being blown away by a New Zealand Savvy Blanc, David Hohnen hightailed it to Marlborough. He and winemaker Kevin Judd founded Cloudy Bay. Their Sauvignon Blanc quickly gained so much international acclaim that the New Zealand wine industry was propelled to new heights. 

New Zealand's elegant Pinot Noir began in a gumboot

The main gate at Ata Rangi winery.

Ata Rangi founder Clive Paton was looking for Pinot Noir (aka the heartbreak grape) cuttings in 1980 to plant on his newly purchased Martinborough 4.9-hectare plot. Malcolm Abel was a former Customs officer who intercepted some cuttings at Auckland Airport in the mid-70s.

The story goes the cuttings were in a rugby player's gumboot, and the red-faced footballer confessed they were from one of the world's most prestigious estates - Burgundy's Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Malcolm (a fledgling winemaker) sent them to quarantine and eventually planted them on his 2-acre vineyard.

Clive called Martin and sourced bud wood from the Burgundy clone for the first Pinot Noir plantings at Ata Rangi Home Block. Sadly, Malcolm never saw the vintage after dying suddenly. Subsequently, his vineyard near Auckland disappeared in the city's urban sprawl.

Now planted throughout New Zealand, the 'Abel' clone at Ata Rangi remains the mother block. Fittingly, in Te Reo Māori, Ata Rangi means "new beginning".

While Marlborough is New Zealand wine's juggernaut, Wairarapa is the Mighty Mouse

A starry night in Wairarapa.

All that Sauvignon Blanc makes Marlborough in the north easterly end of the South Island of New Zealand's most significant producing region. But the Wairarapa in the south-easterly end of the North Island punches well above its weight, producing many award-winning wines, including gold medal Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Rosé and Syrah.

Wine-making is a farmer's life

New Zealand is the first wine industry to establish a national sustainability programme. Over 96 per cent of New Zealand's vineyards are certified as sustainable. Many are also certified organic and follow biodynamic practices. But it's how viticulturists use sheep and cows that give some vineyards an 'old McDonald' vibe.

Marlborough's organic Te Whare Ra employs its Red Devon cows as vineyard mowers and manure spreaders for its hand-picked vines, while Cloudy Bay's winter-grazing sheep also keep the weeds under control. Martinborough's Moy Hill pigs love their annual treat of grape skins, stems, and seeds post-harvest.

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson doesn't own a vineyard

You can cycle through gold-mining history along the Otago Central Rail Trail (a stone's throw from Sam Neill's Two Paddocks vineyard)

But much-loved actor Sam Neill does. He started his Two Paddocks label in Gibbston, Central Otago, in 1993. For an actor, he sure does make some fine Pinot Noir.

No, Cloudy Bay wasn't named for those long white clouds

The moniker dates back to James Cook's 1770 Endeavour expedition. Cook observed that flooding caused the usually pretty bay to become clouded with sediment.

Take the trail

View from the Te Mata Peak in New Zealand. Image: NZ Wine Trail

The Classic New Zealand Wine Trail includes three regions where more than 80 per cent of New Zealand wine is crafted. Begin trailing (and tasting) at Hawkes Bay cellar doors on the east coast of the North Island. Next up, Wairarapa’s tasting rooms and continue through to Wellington before crossing Cook Strait by ferry and finishing in Marlborough.

Throw in epic views, distilleries, farm gates and charming country towns, and you have a road trip dreams are made of.

The writer was a guest of New Zealand Winegrowers.

Originally published as 7 things you didn't know about New Zealand wine