Marlborough set for significant expansion to meet demand from US
New Zealand’s biggest wine producing region, Marlborough, is set to expand the size of its vineyard area by a quarter in the next two years to meet increased demand from North America.
The region, famous for its Sauvignon Blanc, currently comprises 24,000 hectares of vineyard, but this is expected to be boosted by a further 6,800 hectares, which is bigger than Hawke’s Bay, the country’s second largest wine producing region with 4744 hectares of vineyards.
Wine Marlborough manager Marcus Pickens said the region was “right on track” to meet the predicted growth. “I’m inclined to say yes, its outperforming any wine sector growing like that would be a surprise, let alone in New Zealand,” he told Stuff. “We’re also trying to tell the community that the growth is a good outcome for the region. It does add more jobs, it creates more wealth, its more spend in our regional economy and that’s fantastic,” he added.
Most of the growth was happening in the Wairau area, but other parts of Marlborough including Northbank and Awatere were also seeing expansion.
Graphic source: Stuff
Constellation Brands is one of those companies getting in on the act, doubling its Marlborough vineyard plantation from 1000 to 2000 hectares since 2014 to satisfy increased demand from the US where its Kim Crawford brand is New Zealand’s biggest selling Sauvignon by both volume and value, and in Canada where it is the biggest white wine
As a result of the growth in plantings , there was an urgent need to attract more labour to the area, said Pickens. "We certainly need young people to come and work in Marlborough, we need to attract school leavers to stay and work here. We need people from outside Marlborough to come and live here."