News and Media Releases
Southern New Zealand to be the next
wine capital of the world
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Christchurch/Southern New Zealand has been selected to represent New Zealand as the newest member of the prestigious Great Wine Capitals Global Network.
The Great Wine Capitals network, which includes as members wine regions such as Bordeaux and San Francisco/Napa Valley, is an international network of major wine producing regions which aims to promote tourism, education and business exchange.
The Christchurch City Council-led bid to join the international network incorporates the wine growing regions of Canterbury, Waipara Valley, Marlborough and Central Otago.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says the selection is a great opportunity to attract tourism to the region and develop international markets for our world-class wines.
“I am delighted that our bid to join the Great Wine Capitals Global Network has been successful. This is a great example of South Island regional partners working together to achieve top results.
“The wine regions of Christchurch/Southern New Zealand are already world-renowned; securing membership of this prestigious global network will help us build on our good reputation, promote our sustainability credentials and attract even more interest in our region,” he says.
“Christchurch is the international gateway to the superb wine growing regions of Canterbury, Waipara Valley, Marlborough and Central Otago. All of these destinations are within just a few hours of the city and promoting the South Island wine region as one entity means we can attract more international visitors than we could do individually,” Mr Parker says. “I hope this is just the first of many more combined Southern tourism ventures.”
The Christchurch/Southern New Zealand region will co-ordinate over the next month before officially accepting the invitation and becoming a Great Wine Capital at the network’s Annual General Meeting in November.
Great Wine Capitals has eight members (Bordeaux, Cape Town, Florence, Mainz, Mendoza, Porto, Bilbao-Rioja and San Francisco-Napa Valley) and has been looking to include a New Zealand member and an Australian member – only one wine region from each country can become a member of the global network.
The New Zealand wine industry contributed over $1.5 billion to New Zealand’s GDP and supports over 16,500 full time equivalent jobs. The industry generates over $3.5 billion of revenue through its own direct sales and the sales it induces from related sectors.[1] The Christchurch/Southern New Zealand wine region includes 258 wineries, 44% of the wineries in New Zealand.
BACKGROUND
Great Wine Capitals
The Great Wine Capitals is a network of eight major global cities in both the northern and southern hemispheres, which share a key economic and cultural asset: their internationally renowned wine regions.
It is the only such network to encompass the so-called ‘old’ and ‘new’ worlds of wine, and exists to encourage travel, education and business exchange between the internationally-renowned centres of Bordeaux, Cape Town, Florence, Mainz, Mendoza, Porto, Bilbao-Rioja and San Francisco-Napa Valley.
Since its creation in 1999, the network has introduced:
• A prestigious annual competition, the ‘Best Of Wine Tourism’ awards. This international competition is designed to reward the wineries in each member city that have distinguished themselves in terms of the excellence of their facilities in various categories from art and culture to sustainable wine tourism, and delivering quality experiences to the public. Since their inception, over 208 properties have received an award from 1388 nominees.
• A business network with extensive training and information seminars, forums and tastings. Business facilities are also provided for visits between member cities.
• Symposiums of experts on investments in the wine sector and education initiatives in wine. These take place often at the annual general meetings, when conferences are held to debate and illuminate crucial issues that affect the wider world of wine.
• Technical and/or commercial exploratory trips to the member wine regions. Knowledge-sharing is a crucial part of the network, as is the idea that each city can benefit from the strengths of their neighbours in the network.
• A Great Wine Capitals Travel Network to facilitate travel between the regions, where travel agencies in each city develop custom-made food and wine itineraries. They are destination specialists in each city and are able to handle all travel requirements to and between the Great Wine Capitals.
The Great Wine Capitals aims to heighten the wine experience for everyone who visits these cities, and to help the cities themselves make the most of their extraordinary culture, heritage and geographical locations.
www.greatwinecapitals.com
[1] NZIER report April 2009: Economic impact of the New Zealand wine industry.
NZ Pinots - how good?
3 Mar 2009 by Jancis Robinson
Pinot Noir Week continues. New Zealand was already showing signs of Pinotmania at the turn of the century and total plantings of Pinot Noir overtook those of Chardonnay to become the country’s second most planted grape variety after Sauvignon Blanc in 2006. With its distance from the equator and naturally high acidities, New Zealand is well suited to this early ripening vine and there is hardly a New Zealand wine region that does not have its own distinctive style of Pinot Noir although the finest examples tend to come from the South Island and North Island regions south of Hawke's Bay.
While I was there recently I had the chance to catch up on how New Zealand’s Pinots were evolving stylistically, notably but not exclusively with a collection of wines chosen for their superiority and served blind in regional groups just before the Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration to us visiting wine writers. You can see my survey of New Zealand Pinot last time I was there four years ago here. Many of today’s NZ Pinots seem to be gaining in grace, perhaps partly as a result of increasing vine age, but I think also because of the increasing sensitivities of Kiwi winemakers, if not all Kiwi wine drinkers, to the special charms of successfully subtle and complex red burgundy. There are still some big, bold wines, some of them well made, but the proportion of NZ Pinots that have something more about them and which suggest that they may age well seems to be increasing.
I will be publishing a separate report on my comprehensive tastings of 2007 Central Otago Pinot Noirs, but the notes below include Central Otago Pinots from other vintages, as well as Pinot Noirs of all vintages from other New Zealand regions. I have listed them in descending score order within each region, on the principle that few of these producers have an international reputation.
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WAIPARA
We were told that winemakers in other regions were coming round to the Pinots of Waipara around Canterbury in the South Island because they are so interesting relative to the average New Zealand Pinot Noir.
Muddy Water Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 17.5 Drink 2010-15
Lovely zest and balance and ease. Very pure and fine tannined. Graceful.
Pegasus Bay, Prima Donna Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 17.5 Drink 2012-18
Light nose and easy. Savoury though and no ersatz sweetness. Dry finish, no compromises. Dry finish and very appetising. Delicate. Zesty.
Daniel Schuster, Omihi Selection Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 17.5 Drink 2011-16
Scented and lively and pretty and juicy. Côte de Beaune style with some real interest – more delicate than many.
Successors, The Crater Rim, Blacks Lot 7 Pinot Noir 2007 Waipara 17.5 Drink 2012-17
Name long enough for you? Subtle jewelly fruit - surely Dijon clones? Some cough medicine but very ambitious and grown up – quite different from most. Nuits style and a long-term bet.
Torlesse, Omihi Road SVR Waipara Flats Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 17.5 Drink 2011-17
Rich, medicinal, lots of structure and so grown up! This wine has a beginning, middle and end. Perhaps a little too medicinal for me but admirable ambition.
Waipara West Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 17.5 Drink 2010-14
Paler than most. Quite scented. Racy with some gas but great delicacy too. Lightweight but lots of character. Admirable. Hint of Oxo. Particularly lacy filigree tannins.
Waipara Springs, Primo Selection Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 17 Drink 2011-15
Meaty and lively and interesting – splits the difference between regular Waipara quirkiness and user friendliness though it's certainly not ready yet! Bone dry.
Bell Hill Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 16.5 Drink 2011-16
Lively and rich and sleek – complete except that the oak seems a little dominant at this stage in its development.
Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir 2006 Waipara 16.5 Drink 2011-16
Racy and some richness – pretty chewy and moist with some savoury fruit. Real interest though a bit maverick.
Glasnevin Pinot Noir 2007 Waipara 16++ Drink 2012-15
Bit of oak on the nose - very different from Marlborough. A little schoolboy in terms of winemaking but interesting fruit.
Click the link below to read an article on Waipara by Bob Campbell from the February 2009 Decanter issue.
Decanter_Waipara.pdf
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