QUENCHING A BIG THIRST
ABOUT five-million glasses - that’s how much New Zealand wine is consumed around the world every day. Reflecting Americans’ fast-growing thirst for Marlborough sauvignon blanc, wine is now NZ’s fifth most valuable export commodity and is on track to generate $NZ2 billion a year in export receipts by 2020.
Wine is popular in NZ, too, so it’s hard to believe that Kiwis are drinking less of it than a decade ago. The figures tell the story. In 2009, New Zealanders consumed an average of 21.5 litres of wine a year, but by 2018 the typical consumption had eased to 19.2 litres a head.
It’s no surprise, then, that the wine
