US fans raise their glasses to Kiwi wine

THE United States is likely to become New Zealand’s leading wine destination this year.

Although more litres were shipped to Britain last year, the US is tipped to soon overtake that amount.

In terms of value, Australia is just ahead of the US, but that should also change this year.

For the year ended November 2014, wine exports to the US were worth $348 million, to Australia $360m and Britain $332m.

During the same period 53.9m litres were shipped to Britain, 51m litres to Australia and 50.7m litres to the US.

Rabobank wine analyst Marc Soccio said the US market grew 15 per cent over the November 2013-14 period and it was set to continue that growing trend, partly thanks to the New Zealand dollar falling against the US.

‘‘Marlborough sauvignon blanc is still on the upswing in the US, and also Californian marketing brands like Gallo are bringing in bulk wine and bottling it as Marlborough sauvignon blanc. So New Zealanders are not having to do all the heavy marketing lifting by themselves,’’ Soccio said.

One of the problems the industry faced was the up-and-down nature of the harvest, which made it difficult to market. Exporters had to limit stocks in a poor year or suffer price reductions in a bumper year.

‘‘Sauvignon

blanc

has

to

be marketed within 18 months, so an increase of 30 per cent in the harvest like last year is a lot to have to push through,’’ Soccio said.

New Zealand Winegrowers chief Philip Gregan said the value of wine to the US was higher than to Britain because less bulk wine was sent to the US.

It was difficult to predict what size this year’s harvest would be, but he did not envisage it matching last year’s record crop.

Frosts in some areas, a cooler flowering season and water restrictions in eastern regions would probably lessen the harvest, he said.

Wine exports to the US for the year ended November were worth $348 million.