This book represents a lifetime’s work making sense of the New Zealand wine industry. To all of those who have helped me along the way and whom I cannot personally acknowledge here, my thanks.
The winemakers of New Zealand have been learning about the vine in the New Zealand environment for only 50 years – the winemakers of France have had 500. For that reason, we have much to learn from our friends on the continent. I thank in particular Jean-Baptiste Traversac, Philippe Perrier-Cornet, Phillippe Roudié and Jean-Claude Hinnewinkel. And over a number of years, we have been fortunate enough to live among the vines, particularly with the Cornu family at Ladoix-Serrigny in the heart of Burgundy.
In New Zealand, the study of the vine is even younger than the industry. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed the comradeship of a number of colleagues over the years, particularly Nick Lewis, Damian Martin and Eric Pawson.
Alongside scholars, I have learnt much of what is in this book from the winegrowers of New Zealand, and I am grateful to many individuals and enterprises for sharing their data, maps, time and knowledge. I have listed key interview subjects in the Sources, but they are a subset of a much bigger community. Those men and women have welcomed me into their wineries and homes, they have shared their wine and their ideas. This book is a product of that generosity.
Making this book has taken many years and many hands. I thank in particular cartographers Igor Drecki, Chris McDowall and the team at Geographx; the photographers, winegrowers and institutions who have supplied the photographs; publisher Sam Elworthy and his team Anna Hodge, Katrina Duncan, Louisa Kasza and Margaret Samuels at Auckland University Press; and editor Mike Wagg, proofreader Fiona Kirkcaldie and indexer Tim Vaughan-Sanders.
And finally, my gratitude to Pauline, for everything.