New Zealand is a land like no other. New Zealand wine is an experience like no other. Our special combination of soil, climate and water, our innovative pioneering spirit and our commitment to quality all come together to deliver pure, intense and diverse experiences. In every glass of New Zealand Wine is a world of pure discovery.  NZ WINEGROWERS

CENTRAL OTAGO
Central Otago is New Zealand's highest and the world's most southerly wine region. Wines with altitude is the slogan of one winemaker. It is also New Zealand's only true continental climate with greater extremes of daily and seasonal temperatures than are found in any of the country's maritime regions. Soil structures also vary dramatically from those of other regions with heavy deposits of mica and schists in silt loams. A new, but aggressively expanding wine area, Central Otago is now New Zealand's seventh largest wine region. Pinot Noir is the dominant grape variety, a status that seems certain to be maintained if demand and accolades are any measure. Chardonnay ranks second with Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling a distant third and fourth. The wines of Central Otago have a purity, intensity and vibrancy that seems totally appropriate to anyone who has visited the region and breathed the pure mountain air. 

GISBORNE
A warm East Coast welcome to our wine region - the best place to experience wine, sun and fun. Our wines are fabulous, our hospitality heartfelt and our scenery stunning, so please make the most of it. Tairawhiti has it all - from secluded beaches to beautiful clutches of native bush.

Our history is rich too. Tairawhiti is recognised as the special place where the Maori immigrational waka Horouta first landed. It is also where Captain James Cook made his first New Zealand landfall in 1769.

HAWKES BAY
Hawkes Bay is the country's second largest region and has a respected 100 year heritage in wine The varied topography and wide range of soil types, from fertile silty loams to free-draining shingle, produces a considerable range of wine styles in this large region. There are 22 categories of soil types on the Heretaunga Plains alone, from stones to hard pans to heavy silts. Ripening dates for a single grape variety can vary by as much as three weeks between the hot, shingle soils of the Gimblett Road area to the cool, higher altitude vineyards of central Hawkes Bay. Chardonnay is the most widely planted grape variety but the long sunshine hours attract a high percentage of later-ripening red grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, as well as the early ripening Pinot Noir. 

MARLBOROUGH
When the first Marlborough vines were planted in 1973 few people predicted that the region would become New Zealand's largest and best known winegrowing area in little more than 20 years. The distinctive pungency and zesty fruit flavours of the first wines captured the imagination of the country's winemakers and wine drinkers alike and sparked an unparalleled boom in vineyard development. Worldwide interest in Marlborough wines, particularly Sauvignon Blanc, has continued to fuel that regional wine boom. The free-draining, alluvial loams over gravelly subsoils in the Wairau and Awatere River valleys provide ideal growing conditions. Abundant sunshine with cool nights and a long growing season helps to build and maintain the vibrant fruit flavours for which Marlborough is now famous. Sauvignon Blanc is the most planted grape variety with Chardonnay in second place, followed by Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sauvignon Blanc may be the star but Marlborough has also earned an enviable reputation for Méthode Traditionelle sparkling wines as well as a wide range of both white and red table wines. 

MARTINBOROUGH
Martinborough wine district is small in size but huge in style. So are the wines.  Every mouthful reflects their unique blend of topography, ancient geology, pure air and human effort.  A perfect state of wine.  Distinctively boutique, wines from Martinborough achieve international acclaim for intensity of flavour.  Sitting quietly at latitude 40 degrees south at the foot of New Zealand's North Island, Martinborough Wine Village mirrors its small community - old world style with new world flair creating simply superb hand-crafted wines.

WAIHEKE ISLAND
Henderson, Kumeu and Huapai to the northwest of Auckland's city centre, are the traditional winemaking districts of the Auckland region. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay are the most popular varieties here although Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and other white varieties are also planted. Auckland's soils are mainly shallow clays over hard silty-clay subsoils or sandy loams. Vineyards are mostly planted in pockets of flat land on the drier east coast or in the shelter of western ranges. In the early 1980s Waiheke Island, in Auckland harbour, was established as a fashionable district for the production of high quality red wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.