Northland is New Zealand’s northernmost wine region. It is the smallest, and the only one that doesn’t have a recognised sub-region.
Northland is New Zealand’s northernmost wine region. It is the smallest, and the only one that doesn’t have a recognised sub-region.
The climate of Northland is warm, with abundant rainfall and a high level of humidity in most areas. All these factors mean that it can be difficult to grow grapevines here, but the grapes that do make it through are picked at full ripeness by hand.
This means that the resulting wines are quite complex, with a lot of fruit flavour and roundness on the palate. Merlot and Chardonnay make up most of this region’s production, but Pinot Noir and Syrah are also grown.
The Bay of Islands, an area that’s popular with tourists and boaters, is sometimes referred to as a ‘sub-region’, but it lacks an appellation.
The Bay of Islands, an area that’s popular with tourists and boaters, is sometimes referred to as a ‘sub-region’, but it lacks an appellation. For example, you might hear about a wine from the Bay of Islands sub-region, which is in fact the same as the Northland region. Further down on this page we outline what makes up the sub-regions of Northland – one of them being the Bay of Islands.
Located at the top of the country’s North Island, Northland is famous for its huge variety of vineyards — it produces more than 40 grape varieties.
Northland is the only region in New Zealand that produces the aromatic white wine Muscat, which is one of the more obscure varieties. However, you will find a number of other varieties grown here, including Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah.
The region lies on the northernmost tip of New Zealand’s North Island. It has a moderate climate that allows for plenty of sunshine and grape-growing potential.
Established in 2005, Kerikeri’s Marsden Estate was one of New Zealand’s first organic wineries. It focuses mostly on red wines.
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In the late 1800s, winemaking became the leading horticultural industry in Northland. But phylloxera outbreaks decimated the region’s vines in the early 20th century.
The first major viticultural industry in New Zealand was established in Northland in the late 1800s when a group of mainly German immigrants planted grapevines. The region produced around 100,000 gallons of wine per year, making it New Zealand’s leading wine producing area at the time. However, by 1922 phylloxera had decimated all vines and the government even banned any further planting of them until 1926. To this day, only three vineyards have been able to remain open: Marsden Estate Winery near Whangarei, Marsden Estate Vineyard on Araparera Valley Road and Ngunguru Vineyards just outside Tutukaka.
Northland has a warm subtropical climate, with lots of rainfall during winter and spring — about three times as much as Auckland in the centre of the island.
The region has a warm subtropical climate, with lots of rainfall during winter and spring — about three times as much as Auckland in the centre of the island. When it really rains, though, it’s a deluge. As a result, summer is hot and dry – perfect for growing grapes! With warm, wet winters and dry summers, temperatures rarely drop below 0°C. This is great news for grape growers. The most obvious benefit is that cold weather won’t kill off vines or disrupt bud growth – although vineyards can be damaged by heavy frosts during rare cold snaps (for example in 2016 when there was snow at Kerikeri).
This climate makes Northland particularly good for making aromatic and delicate wines. Grapes need to be picked early to prevent over-ripeness and high alcohol levels which can make the wine too powerful. This isn’t a problem here because the low diurnal temperature range (the difference between night time and day time temperatures) slows down ripening by reducing photosynthesis.
Northland experienced another benefit from phylloxera infestations in Europe — when European immigrants arrived from devastated regions like Burgundy, they brought their knowhow with them.
Northland experienced another benefit from phylloxera infestations in Europe — when immigrants arrived from devastated regions like Burgundy, they brought their knowhow with them. In the late 1800s, French Benedictine monks of St Mary’s Abbey in Hawkes Bay were given land to cultivate grapes. This was the first European-style vineyard planted in New Zealand. Another Frenchman, Jean Bungener established the first winery at the Waiharakeke Mission Station on the Arapaoa River through his business Waikaraka Estate Vineyards Ltd. Though these pioneers faced many challenges and struggled to find a suitable climate or variety for grape growing, their skills assisted in growing the wine industry of New Zealand as a whole.
Some growers recommend avoiding irrigation altogether, to prevent damaging acidity levels due to excess berry growth. Others use drip irrigation to great effect.
Irrigation is a contentious subject in Northland. While it is permitted, many growers avoid it altogether, and if they do irrigate they are careful to keep it very low-key. This is because the region’s proximity to Auckland, coupled with its relatively small size, means that a lot of people see the vineyards, and there’s always the worry that someone will complain about water wastage. In some ways that worry is understandable; after all vines can survive surprising amounts of dryness without suffering much in the way of negative consequences. Yes, irrigation can prevent water stress during times of acute drought (which are thankfully rare in this part of the world), but we have yet to see any evidence that it does anything positive for quality. And yes again, irrigation can be used to control crop load – though exactly how well this works remains open to question – but once again there appears little evidence that doing so has any positive impact on wine quality. So arguably Northland growers might be better off focusing on winemaking rather than farming when trying to improve their wines’ quality – though let us hasten to add that at this point this is nothing more than an opinion expressed by one journalist who visits New Zealand every year or two. However! There is one aspect of irrigation where we feel we can make a strong case: soil moisture management.