{"id":551929,"date":"2026-07-30T21:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/551929\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:18:13","slug":"weekend-wine-guide-vintners-bad-luck-is-spreading-through-our-top-wine-regions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/551929\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend wine guide: Vintners\u2019 bad luck is spreading through our top wine regions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MichaelMichael Cooper<\/a><\/p>\n

Wine writer\u00b7New Zealand Listener\u00b7<\/p>\n

30 Jul, 2026 06:04 PM3 mins to read<\/p>\n

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There’s widespread concern about cancelled grape growing contracts and many vineyard blocks left unpicked, mothballed, or being uprooted. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The first white and ros\u00e9 wines from the 2026 harvest are now trickling on to the shelves. In terms of quality, what can we expect from Marlborough, Hawke\u2019s Bay and Central Otago \u2012 the three most heavily planted wine regions?<\/p>\n

\n The new season\u2019s offerings are arriving during exceptionally tough
\n times in the industry, with widespread concern about cancelled grape growing contracts and many vineyard blocks left unpicked, mothballed, or being uprooted as a result of falling domestic demand for our wines. Nearly 25% of North Canterbury\u2019s vines were reportedly unharvested. In May, the giant Indevin group, owner of Villa Maria, informed Gisborne grapegrowers of its decision to exit the region, in the wake of \u201cdeclining demand for Gisborne fruit\u201d.\n <\/p>\n

At the end of a warmer, slightly wetter season than usual, Marlborough growers were enthusiastic about the prospects for fine wine. Following a warm spring and early summer, the vines flowered early, but from late December onwards, the weather cooled. \u201cSummer finally arrived in late February with warm days continuing through March,\u201d reported the regional body, Wine Marlborough, <\/p>\n

Winemaker Jules Taylor observed: \u201cSeasons that begin fast but finish slow give the vines a long growing season to develop intense flavours in their grapes, producing characterful wines with genuine depth.\u201d She singled out her 2026 pinot gris and chardonnay as \u201cparticularly promising\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Hawke\u2019s Bay, a warm, dry spring and early summer accelerated ripening. Tony Bish, who has worked in the industry for 45 years, harvested his first chardonnay grapes on February 17, earlier than ever before. \u201cClimate change cannot be ignored,\u201d Bish says. \u201cThis year it\u2019s verging on ridiculous how early it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Materman, Indevin\u2019s chief winemaker, says the highlight of the Hawke\u2019s Bay vintage was \u201cthe red varietals, with merlot and cabernet sauvignon displaying deep colour [and] complex, ripe flavours\u201d. Steve Smith, of AONZ Fine Wine Estates (Smith & Sheth), expects the Hawke\u2019s Bay heat to be reflected in \u201csoftly textured\u201d wines.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Central Otago growers experienced a cool, late season. After a frosty start to spring in some districts, Felton Road reported, \u201cThe Central Otago summer left us with a feeling of something lacking \u2013 the sun!\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, warm days and cool nights in autumn helped with ripening. Amisfield says the grapes\u2019 extended \u201chang time\u201d resulted in \u201cgood depth of flavour and savoury elegance in our pinot \u2026\u201d However, Grasshopper Rock sounded a cautionary note, advising wine lovers to expect \u201cmeaningful sub-regional variation\u201d. <\/p>\n

Wine of the week<\/p>\n

Hunter\u2019s Marlborough Pinot Noir 2024 <\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u00bd<\/p>\n

This top-value red was grown in the Southern Valleys, hand-picked and aged for a year in French oak barrels. Mouthfilling, sweet-fruited, savoury and supple, it has concentrated cherry, plum and spice flavours, showing very good complexity and harmony. (13.5% alc\/vol) $28-$33<\/p>\n

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Copy LinkEmailFacebookTwitter\/XLinkedInReddit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Cooper Wine writer\u00b7New Zealand Listener\u00b7 30 Jul, 2026 06:04 PM3 mins to read \u200c Subscribe to listenAccess…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,15435,1853,19338,1888,71,228,8594,1976,23785,185,29530,16256,3025,111,139,69,9629,22213,36654,4993,6695,270924,100,213,67662,39545,1529,210,3010,90549,270923,4767,6923,16550,1754,29157],"class_list":["post-551929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-bad","tag-central","tag-expect","tag-first","tag-from","tag-guide","tag-harvest","tag-hawkes","tag-heavily","tag-is","tag-luck","tag-marlborough","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-otago","tag-our","tag-planted","tag-quality","tag-regions","tag-ros","tag-shelves","tag-sports","tag-spreading","tag-terms","tag-three","tag-through","tag-top","tag-trickling","tag-vintners","tag-weekend","tag-what","tag-white","tag-wine","tag-wines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}