{"id":581914,"date":"2026-08-27T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581914\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T12:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:00:13","slug":"thousands-of-grapevines-uprooted-amid-global-oversupply-of-grapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581914\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of grapevines uprooted amid global oversupply of grapes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Burn-off piles are becoming more common across some of our most prestigious vineyards.<\/p>\n

Thousands of hectares of grapevines have been torn out as our wine industry grapples with a global oversupply of grapes.<\/p>\n

The country’s largest wine producer, Indevine, has dramatically reduced its grape supply within the Gisborne region, citing economic pressures.<\/p>\n

Winemaking conglomerate GisVin’s general manager Hamish Jackson said it was depressing to see such vast land change.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A burn-off pile at a vineyard. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“[It’s] really tough to drive around here, I used to have a vineyard out there, all of it’s gone now, the landscape around Gisborne changed completely,” he said.<\/p>\n

Jackson said around 63% of the grapes were coming out.<\/p>\n

“We generally harvest 1340ha of grapes around here, with that being halved 660-something hectares being pulled out which is a significant amount of wine not going to be produced.<\/p>\n

“For the local economy, it’s going to be about $19.5 million loss of income to the growers, support services, the pruners, the harvesters, people applying sprays \u2013 just generally anything involved with the industry.”<\/p>\n

Diversifying limited due to water constraints<\/p>\n

\"Grapes<\/p>\n

Grapes on the vine (file image). (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

A few hundred kilometres down the road in Hawke’s Bay, growers are battling the same fight. <\/p>\n

Hawke’s Bay grower Wim Barendsen has pulled out 7ha on his land.<\/p>\n

“I’d estimate Hawke’s Bay-wide is probably about a thousand hectares being pulled out,” Barendsen said.<\/p>\n

Some growers are looking to diversify the land to other crops, but options could be limited.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t got the consent to grow anything else, so grapes are the lowest water use plant per hectare. If I want to grow apples here, for example, I can only grow apples on half my land and have to leave the other half unirrigated,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Grapevines<\/p>\n

Grapevines being torn out in Gisborne. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

The issues have been building for some time, with rising production costs combined with export tariffs topped off by a changing culture towards consumption.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Winegrowers brand general manager Charlotte Read said it was “a very tough time in the global wine market” and there were many factors at play.<\/p>\n

“Kicked off by Covid, rising global inventory. We’re a product of Mother Nature, when vintages are slightly larger, we are seeing softening of demand.”<\/p>\n

Lifestyle patterns were also changing, she said, with alcohol consumption on the decline globally. <\/p>\n

However, Read said New Zealand was comparatively well placed as a “premium operator”.<\/p>\n

“We are only 1% of the world’s wine and our proposition is well understood, distinctive, sustainable wines,” she said. <\/p>\n

“That’s putting us in a very good position internationally.”<\/p>\n

India \u2013 a reason to see a glass half full<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A row of wine glasses with white wine (file image). (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

A recent free trade deal with India could soon be a cause for celebration. <\/p>\n

India’s first and only Master of Wine Sonal Holland believed there were green shoots ahead for Kiwi growers.<\/p>\n

“India consumes $55 billion worth of alcohol and it’s a very big market. I think New Zealand most certainly represents a great opportunity within that repertoire,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think there are some very exciting times ahead for New Zealand wines and I think the signing of the free trade agreement most certainly represents the three Cs which is a lot of clarity, a lot of certainty and growing confidence among both nations to do business with each other.”<\/p>\n

Holland added that Indians viewed New Zealand and its vines as “very favourable”. <\/p>\n

“We think of New Zealand as a place that’s very exotic, very beautiful and the wines offer a great range of diversity, great taste and represents something premium. <\/p>\n

“I think the free trade agreement is built for premium wines so it should work out very well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Burn-off piles are becoming more common across some of our most prestigious vineyards. Thousands of hectares of grapevines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[138,14934,144,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-581914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-business","tag-farming","tag-food-drink","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581914","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=581914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}