New Zealand

Although experiencing similar weather conditions to their cousins on the other side of the Tasman Sea, the New Zealand wine industry came out of the 2023 harvest in better shape than the Australian one. A wet winter got plenty of moisture into the soil and it remained a little cool and damp during the spring and summer. The weather event that 2023 will be remembered by arrived in February. Cyclone Gabrielle hit the North Island hard, bringing gale force winds and torrential rain. Low lying vineyards with poor draining soils saw extensive flooding. This amount of humidity close to the harvest inevitably triggered outbreaks of grey rot and other fungal diseases. Parts of Hawkes Bay suffered badly, but it was Gisborne and Auckland that were hardest hit. However, by the time the storm reached the South Island it had lost most of its energy and moisture. This meant that the all important Sauvignon Blanc crop in Marlborough got through pretty much unscathed. What is more, the arrival of autumn ushered in fine dry weather for the harvest. At 501,000 tonnes the total New Zealand crop was the second largest on record. New plantings and a bumper crop in parts of the South Island more than made up for the problems in the North Island. Overall quality should be good. New Zealand wine exports remain healthy with sales up 25% on 2022.