The wine-growing region in New Zealand, named after the town of the same name, is located on the east coast of North Island. The vineyards cover 1,245 hectares of vines. The region used to be called "Carafe Country" because of its bag-in-box wines (bulk wines) made from the then most common grape variety Müller-Thurgau, but then switched to quality varieties. The bag-in-box wines, however, still make up about a third. Around 90% of the wines produced here are white, especially Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer. For this reason, Gisborne has been nicknamed the "Chardonnay Capital of New Zealand". A good proportion of the grapes are bought from other regions such as Auckland and used there as blends. Well-known poroducers are Aotea, Coopers, Matawhero, Millton, Montana Wines, Nobilo, Robard & Butler and Villa Maria. In addition to the dominant large companies such as Montana, there are also many so-called lifestyle wineries.
For my many years of work as an editor with a wine and culinary focus, I always like to inform myself about special questions at Wine lexicon. Spontaneous reading and following links often leads to exciting discoveries in the wide world of wine.
Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien