Misha's Vineyard

Most descriptions of Central Otago would leave you wondering why on earth people would plant grapes here. It’s the world’s most southerly (at latitude 45° south) and New Zealand’s highest winegrowing region – and prompts titles for books like Vineyards on the Edge (D. Cull, 2001). This is a place of extraordinary contrasts with craggy bare mountains, massive schist rock torrs, and gorges carved by raging rivers but also spectacular glassy lakes, rolling green farmlands and deep valleys of orchards producing some of New Zealand’s best stone fruit. Although the conditions are known to be marginal for growing grapes with frost a big risk as well as a short growing season, it has become New Zealand’s fastest growing region with leading international wine critics raving about its wines.

Central Otago is home to 16% of New Zealand’s wineries, yet it only represents 5% the nation’s planted hectares – which means vineyard size is very small. And it harvests only 3.3% of the country’s total grape harvest – which means yields are managed to very low levels. Nearly 80% of the grapes grown in the Central Otago region are Pinot Noir, followed by Pinot Gris (9%) and Chardonnay and Riesling which are both around 4%. All of this is in contrast to the country’s largest wine growing region of Marlborough which contains 56% of New Zealand’s vineyard area and produces 68% of the country’s grapes with 74% of their vineyards planted in Sauvignon Blanc – and with 90% of New Zealand’s total production of Sauvignon Blanc coming from Marborough.

So the volume of wine from Central Otago is tiny however it’s Central Otago’s Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris that command the country’s highest price per tonne of grapes. So what’s so special about this region? A well-chosen site, especially on the warmer northern and north-western slopes, with yields managed to very low-levels, will generally produce excellent fruit – and make world-class wines. The blend of icy cold winters, hot summers with little to no rainfall, and large diurnal temperature swings during the ripening season, allow grapes to ripen with wonderful flavour intensity yet retain high levels of crisp acidity enabling excellent ageing potential.

The grape-growing areas of Central Otago experience a semi-continental climate unlike the rest of New Zealand which has a maritime climate. The landscape of Central Otago is also quite different with soils generally low to medium fertility ranging from heavy clays to free draining silts to stony schist-dominant and glacial soils.

It is this blend of this climate, the soils, and the location of each vineyard that come together in a specific way to create a unique flavour profile – a term the French call ‘terroir’. With Pinot Noir, known to be a very ‘transparent grape’ – meaning it is affected by every aspect of its growing environment, this element of “terroir” is extremely important. It’s one of the reasons that the world has so many Pinot Noir enthusiasts – as every Pinot Noir is different and speaks clearly of its origins. For many winegrowers and winemakers, producing Pinot Noir represents the ultimate challenge and no other variety seems to awaken the same passions as Pinot Noir.

(Statistics from “NZ Winegrowers 2008 Statistical Annual”)

New Zealand’s Place in the World

In 2008, global wine production increased to 27 billion litres (or 270 million hectolitres). Of that, Australia produced 1.3 billion litres (4.82% of global production) and New Zealand produced .2052 billion litres (0.76% of global production). This means Central Otago only produces 0.025% of the world’s wine. (Data from Global Wine Supply Monitor, Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation (AWBC)/Wine Australia, Jan 2009).

So New Zealand may be one of the smallest producers with less than 1% of the global wine production, but in the UK, New Zealand achieves the highest prices for its wines. Over the past 10 years New Zealand has had the highest price per litre of all wine imports into the UK beating even France in this highly competitive market. New Zealand’s average price per litre is also double that of Australia’s price per litre. And in the US, New Zealand wines command a premium as well, and second only to France in terms of the price per litre, and again almost double the price of Australian wine.(Investment New Zealand – Data from UN Comtrade, Coriolis Analysis).

Although New Zealand’s largest export variety is Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir has now become the country’s second-largest export variety and continues to grow. But premium Pinot Noir will never be produced in large volumes. The world-class Pinot Noir produced in Central Otago is expensive – vineyards are small and usually family-run, everything is done by hand, crops are managed to extremely low levels, and producers are all trying to produce the very best quality they can. It is very much the domain of artisans in search of the highest quality.

New Zealand may be small, but it punches well above its weight in so many areas. Its place in the world with respect to wine is probably best summarized by the marketing vision from New Zealand Winegrowers: “To be internationally recognized as the leading producer and marketer of highly distinctive premium quality wines.”