CHRISTCHURCH WINS WORLD WINE CAPITAL TITLE

The Garden City Represents NZ in Global Network

Christchurch has been named the wine capital of New Zealand and among the world's top wine producing regions - taking rank beside Bordeaux, France and Napa Valley, USA.

Canterbury's Waipara Valley, New Zealand's fastest-growing wine area, helped secure the country's bid to join the prestigious Great Wine Capitals Global Network.

Being New Zealand's representative in this international network of "wine capitals" means excellent opportunities for Christchurch and Canterbury," says Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism CEO Christine Prince. "Among these are the opportunities to attract tourism to our 'wine capital' and further develop international markets for this region's world-class industry."

The Great Wine Capitals network, which includes as members wine regions such as Bordeaux, France and San Francisco/Napa Valley, USA, is an international network of major wine producing regions which aims to promote tourism, education and business exchange.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker agrees the selection is a great opportunity to attract tourism to the region and foster international interest in our world-class wines.

"Christchurch is the international gateway to the superb wine growing regions of Canterbury, Waipara Valley, Marlborough and Central Otago. All of these destinations are within just a few hours of the city and promoting the South Island wine region as one entity means we can attract more international visitors than we could do individually," Mr Parker says. "I hope this is just the first of many more combined Southern tourism ventures."

The Christchurch/Southern New Zealand region will coordinate over the next month before officially accepting the invitation and becoming a Great Wine Capital at the network's Annual General Meeting in November.

According to Kaikoura Mayor Kevin Heays: "I do believe they have chosen the South Island as their next partner because of the same attributes that we displayed to them through our hospitality, our wines and our 'place'."

Great Wine Capitals has eight members (Bordeaux, Cape Town, Florence, Mainz, Mendoza, Porto, Bilbao-Rioja and San Francisco-Napa Valley) and has been looking to include a New Zealand member and an Australian member - only one wine region from each country can become a member of the global network.

The New Zealand wine industry contributes over $1.5 billion to New Zealand's GDP and supports over 16,500 full time equivalent jobs. The industry generates over $3.5 billion of revenue through its own direct sales and the sales it induces from related sectors. The Christchurch/Southern New Zealand wine region includes 295 wineries, this makes up 46% of the wineries in New Zealand.

Download -  Canterbury Winery Map.pdf (83KB)

Download -  Waipara Wine Map.pdf (115KB)