OPINION: As I approach three months in my role as New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive, one message has come through consistently in conversations across the country: many members, particularly growers, are facing a challenging period.
OPINION: The United States wine market has changed forever, and companies cannot use same old playbook, said Erin Kirschenmann at the New Zealand Wine 2026 Wine Business Forum in August.
Having judged at the Japan Wine Challenge in both 2024 and 2025, I’m looking forward to returning to the role in Tokyo this October.
In the lead-up to Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2026, which runs from 14–21 September, viticulturist Jeff Sinnott, a founding member of the Tuku Māori Winemakers Collective, urges New Zealand’s wine industry to embrace and protect te reo Māori.
“The first conviction we need as wine drinkers,” Andrew Jefford once wrote, “is to spend less time thinking about grape varieties, and pay more attention to the places wines come from and the cultures in which they come into being. All the grape variety does is present a spectrum of opportunities.”
OPINION: The months ahead are important for New Zealand Winegrowers.
OPINION: New Zealand's soils and climate make our wine industry extraordinary. But it is the people behind the vines and wines who make it Altogether Unique.
OPINION: People often want to know what the best part of undertaking my Master of Wine was.
OPINION: This is my last article as Chief Executive, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about three recurring issues which I have seen over the years, and which are almost certain to be issues in the future.
OPINION: Growing great grapes takes hard work and heavy investment, with a post-harvest marathon of pruning and maintenance, frost defence and yield management, and the relentless spraying, mowing and trimming of the growing season, before vintage lands again.
OPINION: Wow, the world is a pretty terrible place right now.
OPINION: 2020 unleashed Covid-19, and in 2021 we saw the smallest vintage in the past decade – for many wineries, tanks were largely dry by the time vintage ‘22 came along.
OPINION: Every vintage has it’s vagaries, and every season I am struck by how nimble viticulturists, winemakers and grape growers have to be, catching, or at least dodging, the curveballs nature throws.
The start of any new year arrives heavy with expectation, bold declarations, and promises of ‘new’ (presumably better) versions of ourselves.
Trade is important to our industry, whether it’s because 90% of our wine sales are in international markets, because of the international tourists who spend money at our cellar doors, or because of the equipment we source from overseas to operate our wineries and vineyards.
OPINION: There are plenty of “happy accidents” behind the phenomenal success of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, said Winemaker Helen Morrison at the International Cool Climate Wine Symposium in Christchurch last month, in a workshop on the evolution of New Zealand’s flagship variety.
The end of the year is fast approaching, so here are some thoughts on a few of the significant developments during 2025 to wrap things up. Times are tough, of course, but there are some positive stories to think about, as well as the challenges.
OPINION: When I moved to Marlborough two decades ago, I found countless lines of tidy vines, neatly mowed and carefully sprayed, with diligent conventional practices interspersed with the odd organic or cover-cropping outlier, like Te Whare Ra.
OPINION: For much of its modern history, New Zealand wine has been defined by its boldness.
Over the past three years or so, the New Zealand Winegrowers Board has consulted with members on proposals to reform NZW with the simple goal of ensuring the future organisation is fit for purpose.
OPINION: New Zealand is the "last great bastion standing" when it comes to wine imports to the United States, wine-business analyst Rob McMillan told the New Zealand Wine 2025 Wine Business Forum in August.
OPINION: At the recent Organic and Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference, the Porto Protocol’s Marta Mendonça said, “Grapes are not the thirstiest of crops, but they are a luxury crop”.
OPINION: Sauvignon Blanc was famously introduced to New Zealand by Ross Spence of Matua Valley, and then serendipitously planted in Marlborough by Frank Yukich and Montana Wines in 1975.
OPINION: As New Zealand's wine industry grapples with figurative dark clouds (and literal for some wine regions of late) this edition lingers instead around the silver edges.
» Latest Print Issues Online
Editorial
From The CEO: First Drops in the Glass
OPINION: As I approach three months in my role as New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive, one message has come through…
Editorial: Stay the Course
OPINION: The United States wine market has changed forever, and companies cannot use same old playbook, said Erin Kirschenmann at…
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