KEY POINTS:
New Zealand wine exporters are too dependent on sauvignon blanc and the $700 million industry needs to prepare for inevitable changes to international drinking trends, Erica Crawford, co-founder and marketing manager for Kim Crawford wines, has warned.
"As a wine exporter, approximately 75 per cent of all our exports are Marlborough sauvignon blanc - and that's a huge reliance on one varietal from one region," she said.
Global demand for sauvignon blanc might be still "stampeding ahead", but New Zealand needed to be ready with the next big thing, Crawford said.
Since it could take five years from planting to full production, it was vital "to have our next offering available when the trends for sauvignon blanc goes off".
"Drinking trends come and they go," she said.
Although overseas thirst for sauvignon blanc - "our bread and butter" - shows no sign of waning yet, Crawford predicted the next big thing would be the aromatic varietals - pinot gris, viognier and gewurztraminer - which New Zealand produced well and in good volumes.
"We believe that's the next best thing after sauvignon blanc and we've got to build that category."
Although pinot noir was New Zealand's next most popular export after sauvignon blanc, Crawford said that varietal would never fill its place as it was too difficult to grow and the returns were too low.
"We pay $3000 a tonne for pinot [noir] and $2400 a tonne for sauvignon [blanc], and the work you have to put in on the vineyard is two-fold."
Crawford said the fact that her company's Doc's Block Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2006 had taken the top prize at the recent Bragato wine awards was good news for the wine industry as a whole.
While chardonnay accounted for just 5 per cent of New Zealand's wine exports, the figure was 12 per cent for her winery.
She said unoaked chardonnay was finally taking off in the US and could be considered a backup for sauvignon blanc exports in that still growing market.
When New Zealand winegrowers last month unveiled its new generic marketing logo, Crawford was reported as criticising the "pure discovery" design as "try-hard".
But after visiting US wine grower suggested New Zealand wine exporters make more of its regional differences in its overseas branding, Crawford said New Zealand accounted for too little of the world's production for such a focus.
"We need to stick together at this point - we're not mature enough to go into that regional differential yet."
