Altogether Unique: Northland

Rod MacIvor of Marsden Estate in Kerikeri says vines are about seven days later than typical because of a cool and overcast spring. While his vineyards were early enough to miss the cool flowering, some in Northland have had a poor fruit set, he says. "We must have timed it perfectly. We have some of the best crops and the vines are looking as good as we've ever seen them."

However, keeping on top of vineyard growth and disease pressure has "made for a hell of a lot of expense", including around 20% more on the spray budget. “It certainly hasn’t been a perfect season, but it’s the tail end that’s really important now.” Meanwhile, Rod is grateful for an excellent worker pool of retirees who are filling the labour void left by backpackers, who are thin on the ground in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. “They’re really quite keen to get out and do stuff and to socialise,” he says of his older workforce, many of whom are eager for the extra income.

Northland echoes an old school European way of doing things, with myriad lifestyle vintners running vineyards for the love of it, Rod says. “Most New Zealand wine regions have areas of vine that are economic and a reasonable size. If you look at Northland, there are 40 growers up here and 140 hectares of grapes, and some of them are very small blocks.” Few growers rely on their blocks for a full-time income, he adds. “It’s more like you have a couple of acres and quite like the idea of making your own wine.” Marsden Estate is like a French-style cooperative in that equation, taking in parcels of fruit and giving back cases of bottled wine.

The cost of production is high, with little scale and a lot more mowing, spraying and leaf plucking required in the subtropical climate. Despite a precarious economic position, there’s continued growth in Northland plantings, thanks to an eager Auckland market on its backdoor, and visitors liable to stash a case or two in their boot before returning home, Rod says. About 70% of the wine is sold in the region, and direct to consumer sales through cellar doors, markets, wine festivals and restaurants, meaning there’s no margin lost to an intermediary.

The region has a unique place, Rod says. “The nice thing about it from a New Zealand wine point of view is that you can go from Cape Reinga to South Otago and have a completely different style of wine.”