Wine Region
Wine lovers revere Gisborne as the “Chardonnay Capital” of New Zealand due to the predominance of this variety. Indeed, Montana Reserve Gisborne Chardonnay 1998 won the White Wine of the Year Award at the London International Wine Challenge in 1999.
Gisborne does however have a board varietal mix and diversity of wine styles reflecting the different soil types and mesoclimates of the region. Gisborne has a celebrated reputation for Gewürztraminer stemming from the country's first benchmark wines being produced by Matawhero in the 1970's. More recently some fine Semillon and Chenin Blanc wines have been produced and the latest development is the emergence of Pinot Gris and Viognier as varieties with a promising future. Red varieties include vibrant fruity Merlots, Malbec and the re-emergence of Pinotage as a preferred variety.
- New Zealand lies between 35th and 45th parallels - between Morocco and Bordeaux in European terms.
- Gisborne is the same parallel as Malaga, Spain and Melbourne Australia.
- Gisborne is the third largest producer of wine grapes in New Zealand, behind Marlborough and Hawkes Bay.
- First to see the light of the new day….Literally true.
- Phenomenon caused by the extreme easterly position of Gisborne
( Longitude 178E) in relation to the International Dateline combined with the curvature of the earth at Gisborne Latitude (38.40S).
- The Maori word for Gisborne is “ Tairawhiti”…which means the “ coast on which the sun shines across the water”.
- The rainfall average is 900-1000mm per annum, heat summation is 1400-1500 GDD, sunshine hours,2186, the dominant soil is loam (silt and clay).
German winemaker Friedrich Wohnsiedler pioneered commercial winemaking in the Gisborne area, establishing vines at Ormond just outside modern Gisborne. Wohnsiedler released his first wine in 1921, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that viticulture swept through the Gisborne region. Wohnsiedler’s vineyard and winery in the Waihirere Valley flourished under his care and was eventually bought by Montana.
Today, Gisborne is one of New Zealand's most important grape growing regions, the third largest in the country.
Much of the credit for the Gisborne region’s quality wine must go to Gisborne's high, hot sunshine hours and our clay loam soils. These help produce wines with nuances of melon, peach, grapefruit and passionfruit.
Our tough clay soils are targeted for the richest Chardonnay wines, while vigorous sites are better suited to sparkling wine. Our luscious silts make delicate long-structured Chardonnays.
Gisborne wines have body and finesse, a firmstructure on which to age, and a delicate floral expression to the aroma.
Gisborne’s wine growing area is made up of several distinct localities, each with their own unique soil and climatic features. They’re identified by wine style, and aptly named with the lie of the land.
Patutahi, Patutahi Plateau, Waipaoa, Golden Slope, Central Valley,
Riverpoint, Manutuke, Ormond and Ormond Valley
Gisborne 2008 vintage of 24000 tonnes (11% of NZ production) from an area of 2000 hectares represents a gross product (grapes) value circa 32 million dollars.
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