Every January, New Zealand’s wine industry hosts an annual tasting event for both trade professionals and consumers, showcasing wines from various producers. This year, however, the event took a different approach, teaming up with Wine Australia for a collaborative tasting that encouraged participants to explore and compare the wine offerings from both Antipodean nations side by side.
In a masterclass co-hosted by Emma Symington, MW of Wine Australia, and Irish wine writer John Wilson, who frequently visits New Zealand, attendees were treated to an engaging session. The discussion focused on the parallel evolution of each country’s wine industry and the distinctiveness of their wine regions—65 in Australia and 10 in New Zealand.
Neither nation had vineyards 250 years ago, and this relative youthfulness in the wine world allowed both countries to adopt more innovative approaches compared to the more traditional and codified European wine culture.
Vines were first introduced to Australia in 1788 with the First Fleet of settlers, while New Zealand saw its first plantings within the following three decades. James Busby, often referred to as the ‘father of Australian wine,’ played a pivotal role in bringing hundreds of cuttings from prestigious European vineyards to Australia and was also involved in mid-19th century wine experiments in New Zealand.
While Australia’s wine industry quickly developed a strong export market, particularly for fortified wines that were in high demand during the 1890s, New Zealand faced challenges with early vineyard plantings, especially on the wetter east coast of the North Island.
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