Located on North Island's east coast, Gisborne remains the third largest winemaking region with eight-point-five percent of New Zealand's vines (in 2006), yet with only four percent of the country's wineries. Around 55 percent of the plantings were to Chardonnay in 2006, followed by Semillon (seven percent), Pinot Noir (five-point-eight percent) and Gewürztraminer (three-point-seven percent).
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Located on North Island's east coast, Gisborne's flat, fertile soils provided New Zealand's first commercial plantings during the 1960s and 1970s, mostly of insipid German varieties such as Müller-Thurgau, only to be levelled by Phylloxera soon after.
Gisborne remains the third largest winemaking region with eight-point-five percent of New Zealand's vines (in 2006), yet with only four percent of the country's wineries, given the nature of the bulk business it specialises in. Around 55 percent of the plantings were to Chardonnay in 2006 (even if in national, terminal decline), followed by Semillon (seven percent), Pinot Noir (five-point-eight percent) and Gewurztraminer (three-point-seven percent).
