Tag: Fabian Yukich

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New Zealand Winegrowers reports bumper 2025 harvest with exports up 5% by volume but value down

About 90 percent of the wine produced in New Zealand was exported to more than 100 countries. Photo: RNZ
About 90 percent of the wine produced in New Zealand was exported to more than 100 countries. Photo: RNZ

Nona Pelletier, RNZ | 30 September 2025

The value of wine exports has dropped slightly over the past year, though volumes remain strong with an exceptionally large 2025 harvest to drive growth.

NZ Winegrowers annual report indicates exports rose 5 percent by volume in the year ended June, though the value of exports was down slightly at $2.10 billion.

Association chair Fabian Yukich said there had been strong export growth to Asian markets over the past year, though the value of exports to the major United States market fell 4 percent to $762 million.

About 90 percent of the wine produced in New Zealand was exported to more than 100 countries.

Shipments to China grew 47 percent to $56m, while exports to South Korea lifted 92 percent to $44m.

Overall exports to second-tier markets, which excluded UK, USA and Australia which together accounted for 70 percent of exports, rose 17 percent in the past 12 months to just under $600m.

“According to market researcher IWSR, lighter refreshing styles are outpacing overall wine category performance,” Yukich said.

“This shift is driven by varietals with more refreshing palate profiles, which New Zealand excels in delivering.”

However, he said the industry was facing a number of challenges, with uncertainty around the long-term impact of tariffs on demand for New Zealand wine in the United States.

“While the increased tariffs have been in place since April, with a further increase in August, it is not yet possible to discern the effect of these in the export data.”

Vintage 2025

The 2025 vintage was unusually large with positive weather conditions bringing warm, dry days and cool nights, producing a high-quality harvest, though a lot of grapes were left on the vine.

Winegrowers chief executive Phillip Gregan said the grape yield was exceptional with the volume far exceeding the industry’s ability to process.

“The weather was so fantastic for grape growing that crop was really once in a generation,” Gregan said.

“There was no way we were ever going to be able to harvest all those grapes. We wouldn’t have had the capacity in our wineries. So there’s still plenty of our wine available to grow sales over the last.”

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New Zealand wine sales in US increase, for 16th year in a row

Morningreport | 21 April 2023

Sales of New Zealand wine have increased in the US – “a bright spot in an otherwise declining import sector”, the New Zealand Winegrowers industry body says.

The increase, for 2024, marks the sixteenth year in a row that retail sales of New Zealand wines within the US have gone up, the new report from alcohol sales analysts Impact Databank. And it comes on the heels of threats from US president Donald Trump to impose a 200 percent tariff on alcohol imported from European Union countries, amid unfolding international trade tensions.

New Zealand Winegrowers director Fabian Yukich told Morning Report it was promising news, amidst otherwise challenging conditions.

“That publication goes out to a lot of people who make decisions about buying New Zealand wine, so it’s pretty important … that we’re getting all this good news from the US right now, where things are otherwise a bit gloomy in other parts of the industry … people see it and they say, well we better order some more New Zealand wine,” Yukich said.

New Zealand is particularly known for the “flavours and aromas” of our sauvignon blank, he said.

“If you look at it from a global perspective, we are less than 2 percent of the world’s production – the trend at the moment is moving away from red wines and towards white wines, and it’s moving towards those more aromatic fresh white wines, so the trend is all in New Zealand’s favour.”

“So the wine’s that we make they are also very sustainably made, and we do take a lot of time to promote that around the world, and that is also in our favour because people do like to buy wines that are sustainably produced.”

Yukich said despite retail sales in the US increasing, retailers were being slow to restock New Zealand wine on their shelves, “and we are feeling that a little bit in New Zealand.”

“They’re unstocking – so that means less sales in the short term … less imports from New Zealand at the moment … but the outlook in the long term is good. Just about every other country’s sales at retail level are reducing, and wine in general is reducing – against that backdrop New Zealand wine is increasing … the long term picture is good.”

Picking has just begun for this season’s sauvignon blanc, but in the face of declining consumption in New Zealand and international, some growers in Marlborough have recently been advised to leave some of their crop unpicked.

“In the last three years we’ve had three massive crops, that Mother Nature has delivered – and this year’s no different to 2022 and 2023, where the vines are delivering a lot of grapes,” Yukich said.

“And the wine companies are saying ‘well look, we need to temper that against what is actually being exported out of the country’.

“It’s not great news for our growers… but the long term outlook is good.”

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