New Zealand's Organic Producers Showcase Variety in Organic Wine Week Trade Tasting - Organic Up 6 Percent Annually

"We're not standing on dirt, but the rooftop of another Kingdom," says biodynamic vintner James Millton, nicknamed The Godfather of organic wine in New Zealand. 

He was quoted by other New Zealand vintners who are certified organic in an online trade tasting yesterday, where participants tasted through six different varieties of wines. 

While most people think of New Zealand for Sauvignon Blanc, as well as Pinot Noir, yesterday's tasting included an Alsatian field blend, a Chardonnay, a Chenin Blanc, and a Syrah. 

Having just cataloged all the organic wines of New Zealand - there are more than 450 - I was interested to see some of the faces behind these wines on the webinar. 

(For the sake of comparison, the U.S. has about 1,600 organically grown wines, all of which come from certified grapes but most of which have no organic labeling on the bottle). 

According to BioGro NZ, the country's sole organic certifier, New Zealand currently has nearly 5,000 acres of certified organic vines and about 1,000 more acres in the three year process of conversion. This acreage represents more than 10 percent of all New Zealand vineyard acreage. There are 102 organic wine producers and 235 organic vineyards, according to Jared White, organic wine specialist at BioGro NZ.

In the U.S., which has more than 550,000 acres of wine grapes in California alone, organic vineyards are  estimated at around 25,000-30,000 acres or around 3-4 percent.

In New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are the most popular varieties by far. As far as regions go, Marlborough and Central Otago have the highest percentage of organic wines, at 48 percent and 22 percent respectively.

The graphics below are available here. (May require free registration).

Northern New Zealand

Southern New Zealand

Pinot Noir acreage - 890 hectares - far outnumbered any other red wine (total of 1,110 hectares), while Sauvignon Blanc similarly dominated the white wine production at 786 hectares (out of 1,282 hectares of whites total). 

During the webinar I attended (there were two sessions to choose from), I was able to chat with a few voices in the room and learn more about what having an organic wineries association did for the vintners involved and which markets were top buyers. 

Very few countries have organic wine associations to help market wines, conduct tastings and educate the trade on organic farming and wine standards. (The rampant misinformation about organic and biodynamic wines and standards in the U.S., even among wine professionals, is a result of the lack of such a group in the U.S.)

I asked if having an organic wine association had been a useful step for the group.

Clive Dougall, chair of Organic Winegrowers NZ (OWNZ) and vintner at Deep Down Wines, said the organization, "has been critical. It has been going for about 15 years and has grown the sector, through education, solidarity and support. It started out small and insignificant, but OWNZ is now incredibly current, credible and powerful."

Dougall said the top markets for organically grown wines for OWNZ members are primarily in the EU, (no one mentioned the U.S.), citing buyer interest in Belgium, Holland and Germany as well as in the Nordics and Sweden (where government policies encourage organic wine imports). 

For me the knockout wine in the tasting of six was the Chenin Blanc from Millton's Te Arai Vineyard in Gisborne, which, I was happy to see, is sold at K & L in San Francisco for about $30 a bottle.

A replay of the webinar is available online.