An exciting year lies ahead. Buoyed by the wide-reaching media coverage we obtained from our hosted guests for Pinot Noir New Zealand 2025, our eyes are now set on the next tranche of influential wine minds who will continue to take our premium story to the world. Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand 2027 will take place in less than a year, held in Marlborough – the region that made our wine nation famous globally. We are so excited to be back on track with the bi-annual cadence of these high impact events.
UK/Ireland Annual Trade Tastings
The first place to reveal the distinctive fresh imagery of our exciting Sauvignon event will be our London, Edinburgh and Dublin Annual Trade Tastings in late January and early February – with Sauvignon NZ27 proudly occupying the inside front cover of the catalogue.
New Zealand Winegrowers and Wine Australia are once again teaming up for the Annual Trade Tastings, which take place across the three cities, and include more than 1,000 wines from 250 wineries. This is the second year we have teamed up with our trans-Tasman neighbours; an approach that our target trade and media audience hugely appreciates and helps ensure the strongest turnout possible. To keep things new and fresh, for the largest event in London we will host a special ‘Sommelier Selection’ table of 40 wines, chosen by some of the United Kingdom’s top sommeliers. We envisage it will be a big talking point amongst attendees to uncover who had nominated the wines, and why those wines held special significance to them.
Wine Paris
Hot on the heels of the trade tastings, NZW will lead a strong industry presence at Wine Paris, held at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles from 9-11 February. It is our first attendance at this event, where the New Zealand pavilion will act as a ‘hub’ for the impressive turnout of New Zealand wineries attending, sporting eye catching imagery encompassing the premium New Zealand wine story. The pavilion will showcase our youthful landscapes and soil, and close proximity to water and vibrant sunshine, coupled with the pursuit of innovation and care for our people and place. Wine tourism imagery is another strong focus of this year’s New Zealand pavilion, to enhance appeal and relevance of our national offering.
The New Zealand pavilion is one of the largest single structures we have designed, spanning over 200 sqm and able to showcase wines from 23 exhibitors, with a further 18 companies to exhibit independently, ensuring all key regions and major varieties are represented. There will be a strong New Zealand Wine village vibe, with a gathering and sharing of experiences at the end of each day at the New Zealand pavilion, with networking drinks kindly hosted by Hillebrand Gori.
The pavilion also features an attractive Sauvignon NZ27 feature wall to drive buzz and excitement ‘a year out’ from the event. This will highlight to Wine Paris attendees that it’s entirely feasible to be in Marlborough from 2-4 February 2027, and still make Wine Paris later that month. Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand 2027 Chair Natalie Christensen and Executive Officer Sarah Szostak will be in attendance to help make a splash for the event and get key messages across.
Read More:
- Altogether Unique
- Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand 2027 to unite and reinvigorate the wine industry
- Blank Canvas rides white wine wave as New Zealand wine sales soar in China
Intel and Insights
Our Intel and Insights programme for 2026 is set to give great value to members, sharing relevant information to support decision making. In the last edition of Winegrower magazine, we shared insights from United States and UK consumers on their perceptions of New Zealand wine in our annual Brand Health tracking study. In the first half of 2026 we look forward to bringing you results of the survey on the remaining countries in the tracking study – New Zealand and Australia. Keep an eye on our webinar calendar as we add topics over the course of the year:
nzwine.com/members/brand/webinars.
Our face-to-face Wine Business Forum continues to grow year on year and we are already have confirmed a strong line up of topical speakers for our 2026 event, to be held in Wellington on 27 August.
nzwine.com/members/brand/market-intel.
