Wines from New Zealand

However, the country’s winemaking history dates back more than a century: in 1840, the year the Treaty of Waitangi formalized New Zealand’s entry into the Commonwealth, the first bottle of wine had already been produced. In fact, since the first vineyard was planted on the island in 1819, numerous immigrants, explorers, and missionaries have contributed to this legacy. British, French, and Croatian settlers followed one another throughout the 19th century to develop viticulture in New Zealand, but the country was struck by fungal diseases affecting the vines and phylloxera, which significantly slowed the growth of this nascent industry.

It was not until World War II that the wine industry boomed. Import taxes rose, and the government facilitated the sector’s growth. In the 1960s and 1970s, New Zealand received massive investments from the United States and Australia, leading to a marked improvement in winemaking practices and the quality of its wines, which were initially mostly light, fruity, and slightly sweet, made primarily from Müller-Thurgau.

In the 1990s, following the removal of customs barriers on imported foreign wines, the New Zealand wine industry faced competition from Australia. It therefore significantly expanded its export strategy, growing from NZ$18 million in 1990 to NZ$1.5 billion in 2015. 

New wineries have sprung up from the North Island all the way to Central Otago, and there are now 670 of them.

According to the International Organization of Vine and Wine, in 2015, New Zealand was the 17th-largest wine-producing country (by volume), accounting for nearly 1% of global production.