Vines first came to New Zealand in the 1850’s via the importation of Europeans to the far-flung island in the Pacific. However, it took a century for Kiwi’s to embrace their soils’ potential for fine wine production. Fortunately for all of us, New Zealand got on the wine train in the 1970’s and has been moving forward since then.

When speaking of wine in NZ it’s helpful to break the country into the North and South—which is basically to say the North Island and the South Island. Wine growing areas have been designated in both islands and experimentation has proven grapes that do well in each area.

The north is made up of six regions: Northland, Auckland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington. The Northland and Auckland are the northernmost (and therefore warmest, because NZ is south of the equator) regions of the north island. The regions produce wine but the climate doesn’t allow the regions to produce as much high quality wine as the more southern areas of the north island. Hawke’s Bay and Wellington are the major areas of fine wine production in the north island of New Zealand.

Wellington is the name of the region, but Wairapara and Martinborough are the names to remember from the south end of the North Island. Wairapara is the only district in the Wellington region that produces wine, and its focus is quality wine production. Within the Wairapara district is the small wine-centric town of Martinborough. The production from these areas in low in comparison the overall output New Zealand, but it accounts for a high percentage of the quality wine made in the country. The focus of the area is on Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. Climatic studies in the early days of New Zealand wine highlighted the region as being prime for Pinot Noir cultivation. And they proved to be dead-on. Pinot Noir, from Martinborough in particular, are one of the most celebrated wines of New Zealand. The wines show intense aromas, bright fruit and excellent structure and acidity.

Hawke’s Bay is a region in the eastern side of the North Island and is one of the largest and most respected areas in New Zealand for fine wine. The regions latitude, farther north than Wellington, means the climate is warmer and the focus of wine making here is on Chardonnay and Bordeaux grapes. Chardonnay makes up half of the planted vines in the region and producers here create a variety of styles, from un-oaked and straightforward to heavily-oaked new world style wines. The quality is generally very good and is continually increasing as world demand for the grape grows. The Bordeaux grapes—particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot—do very well in the Hawke’s Bay area. Some producers bottle straight varietal wines and some take the traditional Bordeaux approach and blend the grapes—with an increasingly heavier dose of Merlot. Waiheke Island in the region is especially well known for its Bordeaux blends, particularly Larose, one of the most expense NZ wines, which practically put the area on the map.