Time to stock up as cellars clear out

Vineyard and winery owners being squeezed by bargain-basement wine prices can take some cheer from the likelihood they have hit rock bottom.

Simon Templeton, wine buyer for liquor chain The Mill, said prices were now probably as low as they were going to get.

Last week The Mill's wine clearance website, vineonline.co.nz, was offering high quality Marlborough sauvignon blanc (rated four stars by Winestate magazine) at just $5.99 a bottle, compared to the normal $16.99.

"Five years ago, if you could retail a Marlborough sauvignon blanc for $9.99 you were doing really, really well. If it gets any cheaper now it's just not worth bottling."

Wineries were under intense pressure to reduce stock now, as this year's grape harvest would start in a few weeks and they needed to make space for the new vintage.

"So they are going to have to sell it to a trader like me who can sell it at a [cheap] price, or tip it out," he said. The areas with the biggest oversupply were Central Otago, Marlborough and Martinborough, but their situation was not as desperate as Gisborne's, where winegrowers were facing "carnage". However, the situation had improved in the Hawke's Bay, helped in part by two years of frosts which had reduced supply, and by growers working together to restrict the supply of grapes.

There were signs growers in other regions were taking similar steps.

So Templeton is recommending buyers stock up their cellars now if they want to get the best prices.

He speculated that growers might see a return to more profitable times this time next year.

- © Fairfax NZ News