New Zealand’s first vineyard was planted at the mission station in Kerikeri, in late 1819. 1833 marked the real start of wine making. James Busby planted a vineyard in the Bay of Island with plants from New South Wales.

In 2008 productive vineyard area totaled 29,310h of which 13,00h were planted in Sauvignon Blanc. The total wine production is 205 million litres of wine annually.

The first commercial winery covered a 2.8-hectare vineyard on the Kaipara Harbour between 1863 and 1907. In 1897 the Department of Agriculture began planting grapes – syrah, chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon and riesling – at its experimental farm at Te Kauwhata, Waikato. The consumption of wine (1 litre per capita in 1882) was never high in a country of beer drinkers. In 1925 about 40 vineyards in New Zealand were licensed to make wine. More vineyards were planted from the 1960s: in 1960, they covered about 390 hectares, jumping to over 5,000 hectares (around 60 vineyards) by 1982. By 2006 there were over 22,000 hectares planted.

The volume of wine produced soared, from about 4 million litres in 1960 to over 50 million by 1980. New Zealand wine also went out to the world in 1963 with the first major export of New Zealand wine. The volumes exported grew steadily with half a million litres in 1982 and over 7 million in 1992 and then boomed from the end of the century to reach over 112 million litres in 2009.

New Zealand wines gained an international profile from 1986, after Hunter’s sauvignon blanc won an award at the Sunday Times wine club festival.

Most New Zealand wineries remain small and family-run, even though some big production houses and signature labels or completely foreign-owned.

New Zealand wine is largely produced in ten major wine growing regions.

Northland Auckland Waikato

Gisborne Hawke's Bay Wellington

Nelson Marlborough Canterbury Central Otago

The best of boutique New Zealand wine. Many of the boutique New Zealand wines we have for sale, are typically made in very limited quantities View Range