Undergoing an audit can be an un-nerving experience, but as Tessa Nicholson discovered, that shouldn't be the case when it comes to Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand.

It is 11 years since the New Zealand Society for Viticulture and Oenology (NZSVO) focused on the country's flagship variety.

Judges have awarded gold medals to 84 of the 1407 wines at this year's Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

With 23,000 hectares of productive vineyard in Marlborough, it is not surprising that New Zealand’s largest wine region should have a plethora of grape varieties. More than 33 in total, from Albarino to Viognier. But one tiny estate, has a total of 29 of those varieties growing in just 11.5 hectares.

A RECENT enforcement order by the Environment Court should be a timely warning for dairy farmers to ensure their effluent management systems meet required standards and are capable of coping with farm expansion. 

Matakana,   Ben Dugdale, chairman of the Matakana Winegrowers Association says the 2013 harvest was one of the easiest he has ever encountered in the region, with the exception of the ripening phase being relatively widely spaced apart.

While grapes have been a tiny segment of the Marlborough landscape for well over a hundred years, it has only been since 1973 that the region has forged a reputation as a world-renowned producer.

SOUTH ISLAND irrigation scheme developments are being held up by the size of the Cook Strait high voltage direct cable (HVDC), says TrustPower.

When the Hong Kong government dropped all taxes on the importation of wine in 2008, it opened the doors to every wine producing nation in the world. In the first eight months of this year, the country imported US$857 million dollars worth of wine. More importantly, it exported $191 million worth, with the majority of it heading into Mainland China. The country has made no bones about wanting to be Asia's if not the world's, wine hub.