When Felton Road owner, Nigel Greening, made critical comments about unjustifiably high wine prices in “drinks business” magazine I searched unsuccessfully for a source that would show how much local wine prices had risen, or fallen, in recent years.
Finally I turned to my own database of nearly 30,000 wines and examined average prices for the five major New Zealand varietal wines over the past five years comparing them with averages for five years before that. Here is what I found:
All New Zealand wines
Average price March 2009-2014 (8116 wines) $29.80
Average price March 2014-2019 (7501 wines) $33.37
Change in five years + 12%
The CPI index has increased by 5% in a similar period.
Chardonnay
Average price March 2009-2014 (1040 wines) $27.93
Average price March 2014-2019 (971 wines) $34.11
Change in five years + 22.1%
That’s a healthy increase that may have been fueled by Chardonnay’s increasingly fashionable status as ABC (“anything but Chardonnay”) defectors return to a wine that was once an old favourite.
Sauvignon Blanc
Average price March 2009-2014 (1333 wines) $22.46
Average price March 2014-2019 (971 wines) $23.33
Change in five years + 3.9%
Sauvignon Blanc prices were depressed after the 2008 surplus but a modest increase of 3.9% doesn’t suggest a return to the Halcyon days before 2008.
Pinot Gris
Average price March 2009-2014 (890 wines) $23.90
Average price March 2014-2019 (800 wines) $23.98
Change in five years 0%
I expected more of an increase from Pinot Gris which is currently enjoying quite strong growth at export (my prices are “Recommended Retail Prices on the domestic market”).
Pinot Noir
Average price March 2009-2014 (1764 wines) $38.38
Average price March 2014-2019 (1705 wines) $43.69
Change in five years + 13.8%
That’s a relatively modest increase for our most glamorous varietal wine.
Syrah
Average price March 2009-2014 (369 wines) $39.35
Average price March 2014-2019 (386 wines) $46.40
Change in five years + 17.9%
A pretty healthy increase.
