just the Facts - New Zealand's Wine Harvest 2012

By Olly Wehring | 18 June 2012

Late last week, New Zealand Winegrowers released details of this year's wine harvest in the country. Here's a closer look at some of the numbers.

New Zealand's wine grape harvest in 2012 totalled 269,000 tonnes, a fall of 18% on 2011.

Here's a look at the regional production changes compared with 2011, in tonnes.

	2011	2012	Change	% Change
Northland	111	92	-18	-17
Auckland	1,464	1,220	-244	-17
Waikato	51	7	-44	-86
Gisborne	14,450	15,590	1,141	8
Hawkes Bay	35,533	32,793	-2,740	-8
Wairarapa	3,598	4,271	673	19
Marlborough	244,893	188,649	-56,244	-23
Nelson	7,854	6,129	-1,725	-22
Waipara	9,231	6,697	-2,534	-27
Canterbury	254	382	128	50
Central Otago	7,104	8,115	1,010	14
Total Tonnes	324,591	263,944	-60,647	-19

Next, here's a look at the changes in production for major varieties, again in tonnes.

	2011	2012	Change	% Change
Sauvignon Blanc	224,412	181,121	-43,291	-19
Pinot Noir	31,156	23,285	-7,872	-25
Chardonnay	25,580	22,855	-2,725	-11
Pinot Gris	17,787	15,347	-2,440	-14
Merlot	9,092	8,046	-1,047	-12
Riesling	6,118	4,989	-1,129	-18
Syrah	1,741	1,431	-310	-18
Gewurztraminer	1,836	1,249	-588	-32
Cabernet Sauvignon	1,667	1,120	-547	-33

The wine grape producing area in 2012 is estimated to have totalled 33,400 hectares, the same as 2011.
Over the past ten years, Sauvignon Blanc’s share of New Zealand's grape crop has raised from 38% to 69%. Chardonnay, meanwhile, has fallen from 21% to 9% of total production. Pinot Noir has varied between 9% and 13% depending on the vintage, while 'full bodied reds' have fallen from 13% to 4%. Pinot Gris has moved from less than 1% to 6% of total grape production over the decade.

Sectors: Wine