New Zealand

An outstanding feature of the 1960s and 1970s was heavy investment by overseas companies, mostly Australian and American. The 1970s also brought an overall improvement in wine quality and heavy emphasis on the production of light, fruity, slightly sweet white wines, based on the heavy-cropping variety, Muller-Thurgau. In recent decades, most Kiwi wine drinkers have developed a taste for fully dry wines, made from such classic varieties as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, which now dominate the industry's output. Wine has played a key role in the emergence of the country's thriving café culture.

New Zealand wineries originally set out to serve the small domestic market, operating within a highly regulated economy. But in 1985 the government moved to speed up the removal of barriers against overseas wines, allowing Australian wineries to contest the New Zealand market on an equal footing by 1990. Spurred into action by their heavy loss of domestic market share, the winemakers launched a sustained export drive. The value of New Zealand's wine exports has skyrocketed from SNZ18 million in 1990 to over $NZ1.5 billion in 2015.

New wine companies are mushrooming from Northland to Central Otago. Thirty years ago, there were fewer than 100 New Zealand wineries; today the ranks have swollen to almost 700. The wine industry forever abuzz with the excitement of new companies, new faces, new labels.