OPINION: This is my last article as Chief Executive, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about three recurring issues which I have seen over the years, and which are almost certain to be issues in the future.
OPINION: Growing great grapes takes hard work and heavy investment, with a post-harvest marathon of pruning and maintenance, frost defence and yield management, and the relentless spraying, mowing and trimming of the growing season, before vintage lands again.
OPINION: 2020 unleashed Covid-19, and in 2021 we saw the smallest vintage in the past decade – for many wineries, tanks were largely dry by the time vintage ‘22 came along.
OPINION: Every vintage has it’s vagaries, and every season I am struck by how nimble viticulturists, winemakers and grape growers have to be, catching, or at least dodging, the curveballs nature throws.
Trade is important to our industry, whether it’s because 90% of our wine sales are in international markets, because of the international tourists who spend money at our cellar doors, or because of the equipment we source from overseas to operate our wineries and vineyards.
The end of the year is fast approaching, so here are some thoughts on a few of the significant developments during 2025 to wrap things up. Times are tough, of course, but there are some positive stories to think about, as well as the challenges.
OPINION: When I moved to Marlborough two decades ago, I found countless lines of tidy vines, neatly mowed and carefully sprayed, with diligent conventional practices interspersed with the odd organic or cover-cropping outlier, like Te Whare Ra.
Over the past three years or so, the New Zealand Winegrowers Board has consulted with members on proposals to reform NZW with the simple goal of ensuring the future organisation is fit for purpose.
OPINION: New Zealand is the "last great bastion standing" when it comes to wine imports to the United States, wine-business analyst Rob McMillan told the New Zealand Wine 2025 Wine Business Forum in August.
OPINION: Sauvignon Blanc was famously introduced to New Zealand by Ross Spence of Matua Valley, and then serendipitously planted in Marlborough by Frank Yukich and Montana Wines in 1975.
OPINION: As New Zealand's wine industry grapples with figurative dark clouds (and literal for some wine regions of late) this edition lingers instead around the silver edges.
OPINION: Over the past 25 years growing wine, Jonathan Hamlet has seen "a massive evolution" in the care taken in vineyards.
OPINION: Members will be aware of the significant challenges facing vineyards and wineries (highlighted in our 2024 Annual Report).
OPINION: New Zealand’s wine industry is facing “significant challenges”, writes New Zealand Winegrowers Board Chair Fabian Yukich this month, reflecting on rising costs and eroding profitability, while sluggish domestic and export sales are holding up the movement of wine.
OPINION: The New Year is well underway, and in January the first grapes of the new vintage were harvested in Northland. So, another year begins.
OPINION: A common refrain last year was 'survive 'til 25', including from those in New Zealand's wine industry facing rising costs, surplus wine and sluggish export sales.
Did you know that nearly 90% of total New Zealand wine sales occur offshore? That simple number means our wine businesses are the most export oriented of all the global wine industries. It also makes our sector especially sensitive to any changes in the trade rules that govern the access of our wines into international markets.
"Te toto o te tangata he kai, te oranga o te tangata, he whenua, he oneone." While food provides the blood in our veins, our health is drawn from the lands and soils.
OPINION: The plan for this editorial was to applaud the collaborative spirit of New Zealand wine, which was in full force at Altogether Unique 2024.
OPINION: Before Covid-19, the rise and rise of wine tourism was a much talked about feature of the wine sales landscape.
OPINION: This edition celebrates three champions of the New Zealand wine industry, and their many decades of commitment to our vines, wines, research, and organisations.
OPINION: The news could not have been more concerning – an industry member deliberately and illegally imported grapevines into New Zealand, and then grew those vines in one of our major winegrowing regions, thereby threatening the livelihoods of friends, neighbours, and colleagues in the industry, and potentially the wider primary sector.
OPINION: In this edition we check out vintage perspectives from around New Zealand, with many reporting lighter than typical yields in a delightfully disease-free harvest.
OPINION: Harvest begins, and almost immediately we start to get media enquiries about how the vintage is going and whether it is going to be a good year for New Zealand wine.
» Latest Print Issues Online
Editorial
From the CEO: Constants Across Four Decades
OPINION: This is my last article as Chief Executive, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about three…
Grape Growers Facing Tough Seasons
OPINION: Growing great grapes takes hard work and heavy investment, with a post-harvest marathon of pruning and maintenance, frost defence and…
Popular Reads
Kevin and Kimberley Judd: Four decades shaping Marlborough wine legacy
A Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award is “very premature”, say Kevin and Kimberley Judd, nearly 43 years after they came…
Banks Peninsula winemaker launches single-serve wine pouches
From the heights of tramping tracks to the depths of picnic baskets, a Banks Peninsular winemaker wants his wines to…
Crafting Pinot Noir from Hidden Vineyard in Te Muna Valley
From a secluded corner of South Wairarapa, Paul and Amy Mason aim to forge wines that reflect their place.
