New Zealand makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 35 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
New Zealand
New Zealand
35
2,685
50
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
9 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
South Island
The South Island pivots on a single obsession: how cold ripens white fruit into tension between stone and sea salt. Pinot Noir here…
Marlborough
Marlborough whites cut clean and urgent, all herbaceous bite and tropical stone fruit, while its reds lean bright and spicy rather than…
North Island
Red wines from North Island's warmest sites carry plush dark fruit and ripe tannins, while cooler pockets draw out mineral precision in…
Central Otago
Central Otago's Pinots walk a knife edge between ripe stone fruit and savory restraint, their intensity sharpened by continental cold and…
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay swings between the austere and the ripe—Bordeaux-styled reds that turn lean in cooler vintages, whites that ripen into stone…
Wairarapa
Wairarapa makes lean, mineral-driven wines that bristle with acidity—reds that taste of earth and dried herb, whites that cut like flint.…
Canterbury
Canterbury's cool slopes pull sauvignon blanc and pinot noir into states of mineral clarity and red-fruit restraint that feel more…
Auckland
Auckland's winemakers chase ripeness in a warm maritime climate where Cabernet and Merlot muscle against Sauvignon Blanc's bracing…
Martinborough
Martinborough's pinot noir and sauvignon blanc pull in opposite directions: earthy, tea-leaf reds that age into complexity, and whites of…
The country’s house grammar.
The 8 styles New Zealand makes most of, ranked by bottle count on Femente. The bar beneath each cell shows that style’s share of new zealand’s production.
2,570
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc — the country’s most numerous bottle.
1,512
1,433
1,137
1,069
721
628
608
The houses that keep showing up.
9 New Zealand estates the prestige critics have agreed on — ordered by the count of 95+ scores across Vinous, Decanter, Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across New Zealand our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
Alain Hauswirth
Traditional · Modern — Napier
45
Bernie’s Restaurant
Grill · Seafood · European — Hibiscus and Bays
43
SALT bar & restaurant
Steak · Grill · Modern — Dunedin
43
The Morrison- Cafe, Kitchen & Bar
Modern — Wellington
42
Tonino’s
European — Ōrākei
41
The Redwood
European — Wellington
40
Osteria Uno
Grill · Italian Style · Mediterranean — Kaipātiki
40
Shark Bar | Restaurant
Grill · European — Rodney
40
MR.FOX : The Bar & Event Space
Dunedin City
40
Blue
Modern · European — Auckland
40
St Heliers Bay Bistro
Grill · European — Ōrākei
40
Street Coffee & Smoothie Bar ☕
Coffee · Bakery · Cafe Concept — Rotorua
40
Add New Zealand to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.