OPINION: There will be many who have noted with sadness the recent death of Peter Taylor, who established Scenic Cellars, the legendary lakefront wineshop in Taupō, in 1981; a vinous treasure trove where customers were as likely to discover a vertical of Cook’s or Mazuran’s as that of DRC or Lafite.
OPINION: The New Year is well underway, and in January the first grapes of the new vintage were harvested in Northland. So, another year begins.
OPINION: A common refrain last year was 'survive 'til 25', including from those in New Zealand's wine industry facing rising costs, surplus wine and sluggish export sales.
After a fairly typical first half of spring there has been a noticeable change in the weather across much of New Zealand.
OPINION: I didn't know what was in the glass when it was handed to me, but I knew it was something special as soon as I smelt it.
OPINION: Whenever I present Te Mata's wines into markets, I often begin by saying that our winery's story is a weird one.
OPINION: Over the years, the use of sulphur dioxide in winemaking has become a complex subject associated with several drawbacks, such as aroma defects and health-related problems.
Dr Amber Parker was guest speaker at the 2024 Southern Pinot Noir Workshop in Hanmer, sharing insights on potential impacts of climate change on viticulture, along with adaptation opportunities, particularly with regard to Pinot Noir. Amber, who is Lincoln University's Director of the Centre for Viticulture and Oenology, shares some of her learnings.
Did you know that nearly 90% of total New Zealand wine sales occur offshore? That simple number means our wine businesses are the most export oriented of all the global wine industries. It also makes our sector especially sensitive to any changes in the trade rules that govern the access of our wines into international markets.
"Te toto o te tangata he kai, te oranga o te tangata, he whenua, he oneone." While food provides the blood in our veins, our health is drawn from the lands and soils.
OPINION: Altogether Unique 2024 was a stimulating two days, rich in business insight and research innovation.
In late 2022 the New Zealand Winegrowers Board appointed a Governance Review Working Group to conduct a review of NZW governance, representation, and the design of the commodity levies that fund NZW.
OPINION: The plan for this editorial was to applaud the collaborative spirit of New Zealand wine, which was in full force at Altogether Unique 2024.
OPINION: “Have a look at this” said a good friend as he passed me a cutout from The Times with the heading “The wine gadget sommeliers say can make your £10 bottle taste better”.
OPINION: Before Covid-19, the rise and rise of wine tourism was a much talked about feature of the wine sales landscape.
OPINION: This edition celebrates three champions of the New Zealand wine industry, and their many decades of commitment to our vines, wines, research, and organisations.
Pernod Ricard Winemakers Environmental & Sustainability Director Alex Kahl asks whether winegrowers have considered the impact of traditional viticulture on a vineyard’s soil health and long-term sustainability.
OPINION: Comparative Tastings are an expensive but potentially effective strategy for a wine producer to raise the image of their wine or wines.
OPINION: I have a 50% share in a vineyard and for the first time ever, snails are threatening to decimate my crop.
OPINION: Each week I receive a newsletter called Areopagus, with ‘seven short lessons’ on various historical figures, classical music, paintings, architecture, rhetoric and writing, finishing with a philosophical question. It’s fascinating.
OPINION: The news could not have been more concerning – an industry member deliberately and illegally imported grapevines into New Zealand, and then grew those vines in one of our major winegrowing regions, thereby threatening the livelihoods of friends, neighbours, and colleagues in the industry, and potentially the wider primary sector.
OPINION: In this edition we check out vintage perspectives from around New Zealand, with many reporting lighter than typical yields in a delightfully disease-free harvest.
OPINION: Harvest begins, and almost immediately we start to get media enquiries about how the vintage is going and whether it is going to be a good year for New Zealand wine.
OPINION: Rachael Cook is the smiling grape grower on this month’s cover, tending vines on the miniscule, beautiful and dream-driven vineyard she and her husband Murray have created on an east facing hillside of Marlborough’s Brancott Valley.
OPINION: The New Year is well underway, and in January the first grapes of the new vintage were harvested in…
OPINION: A common refrain last year was 'survive 'til 25', including from those in New Zealand's wine industry facing rising…
A system that combines UV-C light for disinfection could provide chemical free treatment of plant pathogens and diseases such as…
Huntress, Novum, and The Marlborist embody an evolution of small producers in New Zealand.
Ben Leen never tires of the view at Amisfield, where audacious guinea fowl strut the grounds against a backdrop of…
