Welcome to the home of Gisborne Wine

A warm welcome to our wine region, a special place tucked away on the East Coast of New Zealand. We promise you a truly unforgettable experience, whether you’re visiting for a few days – or forever.

The fertile plains and sunny climate create the ideal environment for growing and making world-class wine, while the legendary beaches and stunning scenery promise a uniquely relaxing holiday.

Gisborne is rich in history. It has played a crucial role in the story of Aotearoa’s origins as well as New Zealand’s emergence as an important wine producer. This is where the Maori migratory waka Horouta first landed, and where Captain James Cook made his first New Zealand landfall in 1769. Our region is known as Tairawhiti, which means “the coast upon which the sun shines across the water”.

With high, hot sunshine hours, fertile clay loam soils and some of the most acclaimed winemakers in the country, Gisborne is famous for producing exceptional Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Viognier, Pinot Gris, Merlot and Malbec.

We invite you to share our heritage, visit our wineries and meet the experts who make our wine.

Join us on this unique adventure.

Regional History

East Coast, Tairawhiti, Tūranganui-A-Kiwa, Poverty Bay, The Coast, Gisborne and just good old Gizzy to us locals, this is a place with a lot of names. And a lot of history. The region’s tallest mountain, Hikurangi (1752 metres) is the first place the emerging sun shines on mainland New Zealand. The Māori name for the area is Tairāwhiti, the coast upon which the sun shines. The region – home to 44,000 people – is renowned for its dry, sunny climate, fertile soil and relaxed lifestyle. Its coastal position brings cooling afternoon sea breezes, characteristic of many of the world’s great wine growing regions, to vineyards closer to the coast.