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Recently arrived from Tasmania, we rented a camper van to travel the wine routes of New Zealand from Christchurch to Auckland.

Canterbury and Waipara

The first step takes us to the province of Canterbury. Traditionally renowned for its sheep breeding and husbandry, this region has changed considerably in the last thirty years with vineyard plantations taking root in its magnificent hills. In the north is the sub-region of Waipara. This is favourably close to Kaikoura, a popular tourist destination for whale-watching and taking advantage of wine tourism.

In the south, Canterbury enjoys being the closest vineyard to the city of Christchurch renowned for its 'British' style. During our tastings, we noted the quality of the Riesling (dry or medium dry style), and of pinots, both promising grapes varieties for this area. In the best wineries, we can name Daniel working in biodynamic.

It is true that most of the wineries produce very interesting medium dry riesling that are consumed in New Zealand but also very famous in USA or England.

Central Otago

Then, we drove through the South Island to reach Central Otago, discovering amazing panoramas along the alpine road (Mt Cook, Lakes Tekapo and Puhaki). The vines are located in a triangle formed by the towns of Wanaka- Cromwell - Queenstown and have the characteristic of being the southernmost in the world. Consequently, the climate is cold and extreme here which makes the viniculture difficult, with random years. Nevertheless, this land is perfect for Pinot Noir and is one of the trendy vineyards of the moment. These two factors: the risks of the climate and the Pinot Noir trend, have contributed to a high rise in prices and multiplication of plantations. Nevertheless we were happy to taste beautiful wines like the pinot noir of Rippon or Felton Road.

Nelson and Malborough

Along the west coast, following the famous Fox Glaciar And Franz Joseph Glaciar, we then arrive at the city of Nelson. Nelson, on the northern end of the southern island. Viticulture began there in 1843, but the cultivation of fruits such as apples and kiwis was favoured over grapes. It is only a century later that new wines have appeared to take advantage of the suniest place of the country. Among the great surprises are new wineries like Woollaston Estates and Waimea (with great inversions) and he family business like Neudorf.

This area remains however in the shade of its neighbour, Malborough, Malborough, known for its aromatic Sauvignon blanc which is the flag bearer of New Zealand's wines around the world. One should not however neglect the other grape varieties which succeed very well like Pinot Noir and Pinot gris. We particularly appreciated the wines resulting from the "golden Triangle", with one of the best soils in the area, located in the old river bed (For example Staete Landt, Georges Michel, Wairau River, Cloudy Bay or the mineral wines of Clos Henri). Further to the south, the sector of Awatere attracts many investors and the plantations of young vines extend as far as the eye can see. However we did have the pleasant surprise of discovering a small winery in this region, Clos Marguerite, owned by a great Belgian family

Martinborough and Hawke´S Bay

From Picton, we took the ferry to visit the vineyards of the North Island. To our surprise, we found top quality red wines, in particular the Syrah of Hawkes Bay, all thanks to the higher temperatures. These 2 areas also propose a great oenotourism such as the superb "winery- cellar doors- wine centres" like Craggy range, Sileni and Mission Estate. This tourism has developed thanks to beautiful infrastructures and the gastronomic combination of great wine with local products. The majority of the best Hawke's Bay wineries have even had their own "origin controlled" with the "Gimblet vineyard".

In conclusion, this country, between sea and mountains, is relatively young in term of viticulture (30 years) but has a priceless potential to entrance the palates of the world.

This country produce only 0,5% of the world's production and exports more than 80% of its wines. We noticed that the bottles are up to 90% screw caps (the remainder mainly under diam). The wine issue is very interesting and exciting and has attracted many foreign investors like Antinori, LVMH, Pernod-Ricard and Constellation among others. Attention however is needed to keep in control this increase in production on such clean and healthy soil.

We finished our tour in New Zealand with 150 bottles which we deposited in the offices of the sympathetic team of JF Hillebrand : Thanks for the generosity of the wineries and for their hospitality and the friendly reception we received everywhere! Thanks to them, there are so far 450 bottles that will be put on auction with the profit going to Action Against Hunger .

Thanks to all our partners : JF Hillebrand, Oeneo Bouchage, Andes Wines, Koala Internacional, Dharma Wines, Winetourisminfrance.com and chemins du Sud and of course Verema.com for the covering of our project