New Zealand

Sauvignon Blanc made Marlborough famous; subregional origin, texture and cellar choices reveal a wider story.

Hawke’s Bay is the North Island reference for Cabernet-family blends, Syrah and Chardonnay, with meaningful contrasts between coast, hills and gravel plains.

A dispersed, mountain-framed region where Pinot Noir requires close attention to subregion, altitude and exposure.

Wairarapa is a sheltered southern North Island region where Martinborough, Gladstone and Masterton make Pinot Noir and a wider range of fresh, textured wines.

North Canterbury combines gravel plains and limestone-influenced hills east of the Southern Alps, with Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay as key references.

Nelson’s sheltered northern South Island vineyards offer a useful clay-hill versus gravel-plain comparison for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and aromatic whites.

Gisborne is an early-ripening eastern North Island region where Chardonnay leads a varied range of aromatic whites and carefully sited reds.

Auckland joins historic western Chardonnay vineyards with island Syrah and Cabernet-family blends; the region’s wineries may also source fruit elsewhere.

New Zealand’s warm northern vineyards make ripe whites and reds in a humid maritime setting, with vine history reaching back to 1819.

Waitaki Valley is a small, cool wine origin along the eastern South Island’s Waitaki River, with limestone slopes, stony terraces and vivid Pinot Noir and whites.