Fans of New Zealand’s famously fruity Sauvignon Blanc could face a sobering reality over the next few years as figures in the Marlborough region suggest production was approaching capacity.
New Zealand Winegrowers released its annual report last month and it showed that the vineyard area had more than doubled since 2005, leaving some growers wondering where they would be able to plant next.
In the report, New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Steve Green said there was scope for existing regions to develop and "exciting new regions and sub-regions to emerge", but he also called for caution.
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"Once again, vineyards are being planted and wineries are being built. [But] where is this going to take the New Zealand wine industry? . . . Marlborough, the engine of the export trade, will reach the limit of viable vineyard land at some point."
The report said that Marlborough was home to 22,903ha (56,500 acres) of vines – 207 acres more than last year and 32,000 acres more than when records began in 2005.
The second largest region was Hawke's Bay with 4816ha of vines planted, followed by Central Otago with 1979ha.
Wine Marlborough general manager Marcus Pickens told the local Marlborough Express newspaper that, as the region continued to grow, land would become more precious. "Land is going to get very scarce and that will be the main driver of the land values."
It would be hard to predict how long it would take to before Marlborough was considered to be fully planted as capacity was determined by many different factors, Pickens said.
"More importantly it's about what the industry will do to support and protect people's investments when it does happen."
The focus would be to "return value back to people and the industry", he said.
While New Zealand as a whole will never be able to compete with the major wine-producing nations, the country's focus has been on value rather than volume. Australia is still the main export market for New Zealand, accounting for 28 percent of total export volumes. However, the biggest growth last year came from North America and Europe. Value exports to the U.S. have risen by 16 percent, while the Netherlands rose by 33 percent and Germany by 52 percent in the past year.
In the U.K., where export volumes have risen by 9 percent in the last year, New Zealand reported an 11 percent increase in its already high average price per bottle to reach £7.27 ($12.07).
Marlborough is home to 151 wineries and 581 grapegrowers, who collectively harvested a record 329,572 tonnes of grapes this year out of a national harvest of 445,000 tonnes. Sauvignon Blanc makes up almost 70 percent of New Zealand's wine production and more than 80 percent of exports.
Green said the 2014 harvest was "a record for New Zealand and signals the drive for export growth in the year ahead".
New Zealand wine exports reached a record $1.11 billion this year. While wine export figures were not collected by region, it was estimated Marlborough exports were worth about $840m as it contributed 75 per cent of the country's production. New Zealand's wine industry aims to be a $2bn export industry by 2020.
