New Zealand Pours It On

Kiwi wine, anyone?

New Zealand vintners, including a California transplant, are eagerly attempting to drum up business here in the land of Napa snobs. So far it has been an uphill battle.

“This is hard work,” said Philip Jones, who built an agricultural research business in the Central Valley before establishing his Spencer Hill Estate Vineyards & Winery in Nelson, New Zealand. “We’ve got to sell people on New Zealand, and we’ve got to sell people on our wine.”

Jones, a ruddy, bearded entomologist-turned-wine-maker, visited Los Angeles recently and talked about his Spencer Hill and Tasman Bay labels, which have collected an array of prizes in their three-year existence. Among other honors, Jones’ 1996 Tasman Bay last summer took the trophy for best chardonnay worldwide at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London.

In the past, Britain has been the chief export market for tiny New Zealand. Two years ago, however, the island nation decided to target the United States. Now, 45 wineries sell their vintages in this country, primarily in the Northeast, with a dozen labels available in California. New Zealand wineries have had some luck introducing their wares through premium supermarkets, including Bristol Farms and Pavilions.

Steve Wallace, owner of Wally’s wine shop in Westwood, said a few New Zealand wines have a large following and “are very much sought after.” Particularly popular is Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc, which sells out quickly at $18 a bottle.

Last year, U.S. retail sales of New Zealand wines totaled about $11 million. Sales should climb to about $12.4 million this year, according to Rory Callahan of Wine & Food Associates, a New York market development firm that consults with the New Zealand Trade Development Board. That’s a drop in the spit bucket of overall U.S. retail wine sales, which totaled $16 billion last year. New Zealand produced about 6.7 million cases of wine in 1997--about the amount shipped by Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, Calif.

That’s hardly a threat to the California wine industry, acknowledged Roderick MacKenzie, the board’s senior trade commissioner. Still, he noted, “We believe we have something quite different to offer, particularly in sauvignon blanc.”

With a climate akin to that of Oregon’s Willamette Valley--colder winters and less arid summers than in many of California’s wine-producing areas--New Zealand produces lively, fruity wines that go well with food. Although the country is best known for white wines--chardonnay and sauvignon blanc--it is also making a splash with its pinot noir, an increasingly popular red variety.

New Zealand has become a large wine producer, relatively speaking. It has 3.6 million inhabitants and 300 wineries, most of them small-volume operations. With all those boutiques competing for limited shelf space domestically, vintners have found it necessary to push into other markets.

Within the next couple of years, Jones, 50, hopes to purchase land in Paso Robles and try his hand at producing California-style cabernet sauvignon and syrah. (Meanwhile, for curious Californians, his winery’s Web site, a work in progress, is at https://www.spencer-hill.co.nz.)

As more people begin to understand the benefits of drinking wine with food, Jones said, he foresees a bright future for New Zealand’s fruity styles.

“There’s a time for big, buttery chardonnays,” he said, “and a time not for them.”